Search and Rescue
by ReavansMask
Summary: It began as an unlikely fling, but somewhere along the way, her relationship with Sha'ira turned into something more. Now, as the Reaper War ends, Ashely must try to save the woman she loves from a terrible fate. Sequel to "Something in the Air" and "A Chance Encounter."
1. Chapter 1

**This is the third part of the story that begun with Something in the Air. It will be longer, with more of an adventure focus, but still lots of romance too. I hope you enjoy it and please consider leaving a review and letting me know what you think.**

* * *

They were waiting for the world to end. Either that or for it to be saved. There was no middle ground and no way for Ashley Williams to know which way it was going to go. All she could do was sit there in the _Normandy_'s med-bay, helpless, as the Reapers slowly destroyed the combined fleets of the galaxy. For all that that Shepard had achieved in gathering this armada, it wasn't going to be enough. Unless the Crucible was activated, all that remained of their strength would be destroyed.

Lying on the cot next to her chair was the only person feeling even more helpless than Ashley was. Liara T'Soni looked like hell. There were cuts on her head, bruises all along her torso, and one of her legs was broken. Doctor Chakwas had treated the asari as best she could, applying medi-gel to her cuts and putting her leg in a splint, but Ashley knew she must still be in pain.

The Shadow Broker looked over at her, anxiety filling her big blue eyes. "Do you think…" Her voice was weak and hesitant; she was clearly afraid of the answer to the question that she none the less felt compelled to ask. "Do you think that she has a chance? We both heard that last transmission. Goddess, she sounded so weak, Ashley. And it cut out so suddenly…"

Ashley took the asari's hand in her own. She was hurting too, her burned leg still throbbing, but she was in better shape than Liara. "It's Shepard," she offered. "If anyone can make it through, it's her. Remember Tuchanka? Half a dozen Brutes chasing her around, that damn Reaper shooting at us, and she still got the maw hammers activated. She won't give up."

"No, she will not." Liara buried her face in the pillow of the med-bay cot. "But what if it's too much for anyone to endure? Even her."

"Then I guess we're all screwed," Ashley said, without thinking about how it sounded. "She's all we've got right now."

The asari's eyes blinked as she tried to fight back her pain. "I know I am being selfish. It's the fate of the whole galaxy that's at stake tonight, but I can't stop thinking about her. I… I only just got her back. To think that she might die now, alone; it's unbearable."

Ashley winced at the Shadow Broker's words. She'd spent the last few days trying not to think about Sha'ira's fate, but Liara's words cut straight through her defenses. Terrible images flooded her brain and as she looked away, her crewmate realized what she had said. "I'm so sorry, Ashley," she apologized. "I shouldn't have brought that up. I know what you are going through."

* * *

Four days earlier:

Once Cerberus' fleet had been wiped out, there was nothing for her to do but wait. Ashley stood in front of the armory bench, tinkering with the scope on her Javelin and fretting. The team's failure against Kai Leng on Thessia had been eating at her, and the marine badly wanted to have gone along with Shepard to recover the Prothean VI from Cronos Station. It had been Liara and EDI who had gotten the nod though, and Ashley could only hope that they'd been successful.

When at last the shuttle docked and the doors opened, she was relieved to see that Shepard and her two companions seemed to be all right, but when the commander's eyes met Ashley's, the marine knew instantly that something was wrong.

Setting down her sniper rifle, she rushed over to meet the landing party. "Is everything okay, skip?", she asked anxiously. "Did you get the VI back?"

Shepard nodded, clearly exhausted from the battle. "We did. We found the Catalyst."

"What is it?" Something was still wrong, but she couldn't figure out what it was.

"It's the Citadel." The marine blinked, unable to believe what she was hearing. The Citadel. How could that be? "The thing is," the Spectre continued, "The Reapers know that we know."

The marine's face fell. She realized that the implications of this were so much bigger than one person's fate, but all she could think about in that instant was Sha'ira. Her asari lover was still on the station and if the Reapers were going to attack it… "We have to get there," she insisted. "Now. Before…"

The commander cut her off, her green eyes sympathetic as she delivered the bad news. "I'm sorry, Ash. It's too late. The Reapers have already taken the station."

Ashley felt as if someone had kicked her in the gut. "Did anyone get out?"

"I don't know. We just found out about all of this."

Liara came over to Ashley, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I will do what I can to find Sha'ira. I had a number of agents on the Citadel. If any of them escaped, they may know what happened to her."

"Thank you, Liara."

"Of course. But I should warn you, there may not be much time."

"For her?"

Shepard shook her head. "For us. We're going to be headed back to Earth pretty soon."

"Earth?" Ashley's head was spinning. Every time she thought she understand what was going on, the commander told her something else she didn't understand.

"That's where the Reapers have moved the Citadel," Liara explained. "Where we will have to bring the Crucible."

Ashley nodded, putting aside her emotions as best she could to deal with this impossible reality. "Do you know when?"

Shepard shook her head. "No, I have to report in to Anderson and Hackett now and then we'll figure out a plan. But it won't be long. This has to end."

* * *

The Present:

Ashley reached up and stroked the scaled skin on Liara's forehead, trying provide some small comfort to her friend. "It's okay," she told the archeologist, "I don't need you to remind me of Sha'ira. And yeah, I know it feels like you're being selfish, but I think that's how our brains work. The fate of the galaxy, the end of all organic life: we can't really wrap our heads around that stuff. It's too big. This, focusing on the people, we love, is what we can do right now."

"It is kind of you to say so." Liara did her best to smile.

"Hey, if not for you and Shepard, I probably never would have gotten back together with Sha'ira at all," Ashley told her. In spite of her distress, the memory of that party was still enough to give the marine a warm feeling. There had been so much good in their brief relationship. Why had things had to end the way they did?

"I'm glad to have helped." Liara shook her head sadly. "I only wish I could have done more to find her for you."

* * *

Three Days Ago:

Ashley paced back and forth across Liara's small office, not sure how encouraged she should be. "So, there were ships that got away?", she asked hopefully.

"There were." The asari kept scrolling through the reports on her terminal as she talked, trying to find some scrap of concrete information she could offer Ashley. "But I have little more than that for you. It was chaos when the Reapers attacked. There were no passenger registrations and no flight plans for most of the ships that escaped, just people fleeing for their lives."

"How many?", Ashley asked nervously. "How many got out?"

"I am not certain. It's hard to get an accurate count, but the best estimate from the handful of my agents who escaped is that a little over a hundred thousand people made it to the relay."

"A hundred thousand." Ashley felt sick, the mediocre ship beef she had eaten earlier trying to force its way back up her throat. There were over thirteen million people living on the Citadel before the war. When you added in all of the refugees who had fled there over the last few months, the total could easily have been twenty million or more. Were they all dead? Or worse, were they being turned into the horrifying things that she spent her days fighting against. Is that what happened to Sha'ira?

"The Consort is a very resourceful asari," Liara offered. "She may well have found a way onto one of the ships." Ashley took a deep breath and Liara continued, "I will have my agents continue to look for her, but with everything that's going on, I cannot make any promises. The coming battle on Earth has to be my focus."

"Of course." Ashley turned to go. "Thanks for trying Liara. I appreciate it. It's just, the way that I left things with Sha'ira, the stuff I said… I feel terrible. That can't be how it ends between us."

"Do not lose hope," Liara told her. "We have all overcome long odds before."

"There is that," Ashley replied with a weak laugh. "I mean, you didn't give up even when your girlfriend really was dead."

Liara made herself smile. "I was stubborn."

"Well, so am I," the marine insisted. "Still, I can't say its easy. Sha'ira might be in trouble somewhere and I can't even go and look for her." She shook her head. "How do you do it, Liara? How do you stay focused when Shepard is out on a mission?

"It's terrible," Liara admitted. "Every time, there is a lump in my throat that does not go away until she returns. I just try to remember that my work as the Shadow Broker helps to keep her and the rest of us alive and focus on that. If Sha'ira has survived, then she needs you to help us win this battle. If that does not happen, than whether or not she escaped the Citadel will not make any difference."

"You're right, and don't worry," the Alliance marine sighed. "I'll do what I have to. What else is there?"

* * *

The Present:

"You did what you could," she reassured Liara.

"It's not enough." Tears started to well up in the asari's eyes. "Not for you. Not for Shepard. Last night, I promised her I would be with her until the end. Now, here I am, safe back on the _Normandy_, while she is forced to try and save us one more time."

"Hey," Ashley said, "It's not like you chickened out. You got a flaming tank dropped on your head."

"I should have been faster," she insisted. "Tougher. I failed her."

Ashley opened her mouth to object but she never got the chance as EDI's precise voice cut in over the intercoms. "Attention," the AI said, "The Crucible is firing. I repeat, the Crucible is firing. All hands brace for impact."

"She did it," Liara whispered, hope blossoming in her face. "She really did it."

"She did." The asari slumped back down onto her cot, at last giving herself permission to rest, and as she did, Ashley felt her own eyes start to moisten. They were really going to win. It hardly seemed possible, and silently, she thanked God for what must surely be a miracle. Against odds like this, a foe like this, what else could it be? God and Shepard had brought them through. She only hoped that the skipper was all right; she had finished her mission and she deserved some peace. Not her though. Ashley wouldn't be able to rest until, whatever the answer, she knew what had happened to the woman she loved.


	2. Chapter 2

**Quick note: In this story, the _Normandy_ didn't jump out of the system before the Crucible fired.**

* * *

Ashley Williams may have believed in hell, but she'd never spent much time imagining what was like. Now, she didn't have to. She'd fought on a hundred battlefields but she'd never walked through anything like the diabolic vision that was all that remained of the Citadel. Lit by a flickering red glow, the floors stained with a dozen kinds of blood, bodies strewn everywhere… she was only thankful that the filters on her helmet prevented her from smelling it.

The station was also a wreck. The energy pulse generated by the Crucible had fried most of the on-board systems and countless shattered beams and exposed wires added to the hazards of their search. Still, they couldn't give up. The war may have been over, but the cost had been horrible. On top of the massive casualties of the final battle, EDI had shut down and the Geth consciousness seemed to have been destroyed by the Crucible's blast. They could use some good news in the midst of all of this loss and finding the Hero of the Galaxy alive was their best chance at getting it.

Beside her, Liara's flashlight scanned ahead into the red darkness. "Goddess," she groaned, "How are we ever going to find Shepard here? She could be right around the corner and we might never know it." Ashley marveled at her single-minded determination. The Shadow Broker wasn't even supposed to be out of bed yet but here she was, trudging through the wreckage after making it clear that nothing less than strapping her to her bed and sedating her would keep her from joining the search for Shepard.

From some shadow at the edge of her vision, Ashley heard Kasumi reply, "Oh, it's not as bad as all that. We've got Shep's location from her last transmission. She should be near here, at the Citadel's control chamber."

"But what if she left after she fired the Crucible?", Liara protested. "Who knows where she could have gotten before she collapsed?"

"One thing at a time, Liara," Ashley told her softly. "Garrus and Tali and a hundred other people are checking the docking bays for survivors. Our job is to get to the control chamber and if the skipper's not there, then we'll worry about what comes next."

The Shadow Broker took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. Ashley could sympathize with her fear. Every time they turned a corner, she half-expected to see Sha'ira's broken body on the floor in front of her and when they did find an asari corpse, she felt sick, and then relieved when it didn't turn out to be the Consort, and then sick again at being glad somebody else was dead. And beneath it all was the horrible, lurking guilt, fueled by the feeling that if she just could have found the right words the last time they spoke, Sha'ira would be safe.

* * *

Two Weeks Ago:

Ashley hunted around the floor of the Consort's chamber for her underwear, the bliss she had been feeling minutes earlier dissolving into her worries. "I'm sorry I have to go," she told the gorgeous asari she had just finished making love to, "But this doesn't need to be goodbye. You should come with me. This place isn't going to be safe for long."

"Do you know that?", Sha'ira asked, handing Ashley her bra.

"No, but the Reapers have been concentrating on large population centers and with Thessia fallen, it's probably just a matter of time before they hit here."

"And when that day comes," Sha'ira informed her, "I will evacuate with everyone else. Until then, however, I have work to do."

"Sha'ira…" Ashley stepped back over to the bed, cupping the asari's cheek. "Please. I need to know you're all right. Come back with me to the _Normandy_."

The Consort pulled away. "And what would I do there, Ashley? I am very fond of you, but you are not my bondmate. I have responsibilities here that I cannot simply abandon because you are worried about me."

"Of course", Ashley snapped, pulling on her pants and shirt. "You need to stay here and spend more time sucking up to whatever rich assholes want your advice."

"Is that all that you really think my job is?", Sha'ira snapped back, responding to Ashley's anger with some of her own.

Ashley should have let it rest there. Even in the moment, she knew that, but her frustration got the best of her. "No, that's right," she snarled, giving voice to the gnawing thing in the back of her mind, "It's not just advice that they come to you for. There's plenty of other stuff you do for them too. We can't forget about your other services."

The asari's eyes hardened and she stared at the door. "I think that you should leave now, Ashley."

"Wait," she pleaded, desperate to take the words back, "I didn't mean it like that."

"I think that you did," Sha'ira disagreed, "And I really do not see what else we have to discuss if you feel that way."

"But…", she tried to protest, but the Consort cut her off coldly. "Perhaps later, when we are both calmer we can speak about this again. But right now, you really do need to leave me to whatever it is that you think I do."

* * *

The Present:

Later had never come, lost in the blood and chaos of the war, and as she pressed onwards, Ashley tried to smother the fear that now, it never would.

Soon enough, their search brought them to a bridge overlooking a chasm and along it, small smears of blood were visible. Shepard's blood, Ashley suspected, and as she looked down, she tried not to dwell on the possibility that the commander had fallen off as she tried to escape from the battered station.

Reaching the other side, the path turned upwards and as they neared the control chamber, the Spectre could see in the distance two bodies laying on its floor. Across the comms, she heard the sharp intake of Liara's breath and the asari bolted ahead of the other two searchers.

"Shepard!", the Shadow Broker cried out, but when she reached the two corpses, she exhaled. "It is not her. It is…" She sighed. "It is Admiral Anderson and the Illusive Man."

Ashley looked over the bodies. Both of them had been shot, and both had clearly been dead for the two days since the Crucible fired. "Rest in peace," she whispered to the admiral before closing his eyes. It seemed ironic that he had survived leading the resistance on Earth for so long only to die here, at the very end of the war. She hadn't known the man as well as Shepard, but he had always stood up for the commander, even when very few people believed in her and adding him to the endless rolls of the dead hurt.

Of the commander herself though, Ashley could find no sign. The blood trail led in here, her last transmission was from here, so where could she have gone? Next to her, Ashley could see Liara growing more frantic, scouring the room for some trace of her lover, but though there was another exit from the chamber, none of Shepard's blood was there. Just as panic was setting in, though, a sly smile crossed Kasumi's lips.

"Look up," the thief told her two companions.

Ashley tilted her head and above her, she could see that there was a hole in the ceiling. Liara was looking up as well, and asked, "But how could she have gotten up there?"

The smile never left Kasumi's lips. "With this." Tracing a finger along the ground, she indicated a seam in the metal that Ashley could now see went deep into the floor. "I think it's an anti-grav lift."

The Spectre shook her head in amazement at Kasumi's perceptiveness. Part of being a master thief, she supposed. "Good pickup. But how do we activate it?"

Liara didn't respond. Instead, she balled up her fists and a brilliant blue glow enveloped her, spreading out until it enveloped all three of the women. An odd sensation of weightlessness swept over Ashley and looking down, she could see the ground fall away as the team started to float up towards the hole.

"Are you sure you should be pushing yourself like this?", the Spectre asked as she saw sweat pouring down Liara's forehead and her eyes darkening with the strain.

"I…am…not….waiting," the Shadow Broker forced out between panting breaths and with a final effort, the three of them sped up, hurling through the gap in the ceiling before tumbling to the hard ground. The chamber they were now in was vast, with huge windows facing out into space and high, vaulted ceilings above them. At its heart was some massive machine, or at least what was left of one. There had been an explosion, and twisted piles of metal were strewn everywhere, including along the three bridges that spanned a great chasm at the other side of the room.

Beside her, Liara was doubled over, vomiting from the strain of carrying them up, but Ashley kept scanning the wreckage, looking for some sign of the commander. There was nothing at first, only a terrible stillness, but then she saw it. A glimpse of flesh was hidden amid the mess on the right bridge and the Spectre ran towards it as fast as the debris would allow.

Shepard was lying there on the ground, a few pieces of metal atop her, but thankfully, she was only pinned, not crushed. The Spectre threw the wreckage aside, ignoring its fall as it disappeared into the void beneath them. Beneath the pile, Shepard looked like shit. Her skin was pale and covered in soot. There was blood everywhere, and puncture wounds in both her legs and her torso lay beneath gashes in what remained of her uniform. Her eyes were closed. Her breathing was almost non-existent. But she was alive, at least for now.

Whipping out her medi-gel dispenser, Ashley found a patch of exposed skin and when she applied the healing substance to her commander, the reaction was almost immediate. Shepard's chest rose with sudden breath and her green eyes flew open.

"Liara!" The commander bolted up, crying out her lover's name with what little breath she had and Ashley grabbed her, making sure she didn't crash back down too hard.

"Sorry, ma'am, it's just me. But Liara's right over there, so you just stay with me and you'll see her real soon."

The asari in question had gotten back to her feet, stumbling towards them helped by Kasumi. "Ashley," she called out desperately, "Is she…"

"She's alive but she's hurt pretty bad. Kasumi, get on the comm and get a full medical evac team here on the double."

The thief did as she was told and Liara managed to make it the rest of the way under her own power before falling to her knees next to the two Spectres. There were tears in her eyes as she brushed Shepard's ragged red hair off of her face. "Goddess," she chocked out, "You're really alive."

"Waiting… for you…", Shepard gasped before Liara placed a finger on her lips.

"Shush, love, it's all right. There's nothing you need to say. Just rest. Help is here."

As Liara stroked her bondmate's forehead, Ashley put her first aid training to good use. Honestly, she could hardly believe that the commander was still alive after the injuries she'd taken but not only was she breathing, thanks to the medi-gel, her condition seemed to be stabilizing. Even if she made it, she'd need a long time to recover, but whether it was because of her implants or just being too stubborn to die, she was still here and if there was a miracle for her and Liara, then Ashley could hope that maybe there would be one for Sha'ira too.


	3. Chapter 3

It was two days after they'd found Shepard that Ashley finally got her break. It was less of a miracle and more of a tired turian, but she wasn't exactly in a position to be choosey. Shepard had been asleep ever since they brought her off the Citadel and aside from Liara, who hadn't budged from her bondmate's room on the medical frigate _Pasteur_, the rest of the crew had been coming by in shifts, keeping a vigil over their wounded commander.

"Hey Garrus." Ashley looked up from the worn copy of Wordsworth she'd been flipping through. She was exhausted from the events of the last few days, but still more awake than Liara. The asari had finally collapsed after days of running on adrenaline, worry, and caffeine, and Ashley took Garrus back out into the hallway so as not to disturb her. "I didn't think you were going to be here for another hour or so."

"I'm wasn't. But I found something you need to see right now."

The Spectre felt her fatigue start to melt away. "What is it?"

"So, Tali and I have been trying to recover the security tapes from the Citadel, to see if we could find coverage of the evacuation, but the Crucible fried them pretty thoroughly. But then today, I talked to an old buddy of mine from C-Sec who made it out and he told me something interesting. You remember how Kai Leng released that VI that deleted all the footage of him?"

She nodded and Garrus continued. "Right. So my friend told me that afterwards, they set up a system that would back up the footage automatically to prevent that from happening again, and after a little digging, I found this." He pulled out a data drive and handed it to the Spectre. "That right there should be the last 6 hours before the Reapers took over the Citadel and shut the system down. It'd be a nightmare to go through by hand, but a good VI program running facial recognition software should be able to pick out anyone you want."

Ashley threw her arms around Garrus, having never been quite so tempted to make good on her promise to Shepard to kiss a turian if so ordered. "Thank you," she told her old friend. "You don't know what this means to me."

"Hey," Garrus reminded her, returning the embrace, "Don't mention it. What are friends for?"

* * *

Four Weeks Ago:

"I don't see what the big deal about inviting Sha'ira to this party is," Shepard teased, pouring out drinks for the two of them. The bar was only one of the many impressive features of the commander's new apartment, and she was clearly planning to have the crew christen it in style. "I mean, its not like you two haven't already had a lot of sex."

"I know." Ashley rubbed her forehead, trying to think of a way to explain her problem in a way that wouldn't be offensive. "It's just, I'm not really sure exactly things where stand between me and Sha'ira. Yeah, we've slept together, but we haven't done a lot of regular, 'couple' things yet."

"So? Now's your chance to start."

"I'm not sure if this is really the best place for that," she protested, deciding to go with honesty. "I love you guys like family, but sometimes, your idea of a good time can be a little intense for a civilian. I mean, you've hung out with Wrex on shore leave. And from what Garrus said about this Jack…"

Shepard smirked, sipping her drink. "You don't know the half of it. But don't worry. I'll make sure everyone plays nice and besides, Sha'ira's a big girl. She can handle it and you can too. Now get off your ass and ask that nice asari out."

Once Shepard made up her mind about something, there was seldom much of a point in arguing with her. "Very well, ma'am," Ashley conceded, "But if this ends up with me getting dumped, I'm going to blame you."

* * *

The Present:

"I really appreciate you doing this," Ashley told Liara as her friend plugged the hard drive Garrus had recovered into the computer systems in her cabin. "I know you didn't want to leave Shepard."

"It is all right," the Shadow Broker told her. "Doctor Chakwas says that she's out of immediate danger, but that it will still be a little while before she will be awake. Besides," she added with a rueful sniff of her own sleeve, "It will be good to take a shower and change while I'm here. These clothes have seen much better days."

"You're fine," she reassured Liara. "When she wakes up, Shepard will be thrilled to have you there no matter what you smell like."

The asari entered a few commands into her system. "This should not take long too. The Shadow Broker's systems are designed for precisely this sort of work." Liara smiled at her and Ashley could see the bone-deep relief in her eyes. The asari had been living and dying with each new development since they were separated from Shepard during the final push to the beam and now, at long last, she could finally let herself relax a little bit.

Three years ago, Ashley had been suspicious of Liara's interest in the commander but today, all the marine could think of was how lucky Shepard was to have her for a partner. As opposed to Sha'ira. Much of the time they'd spent together had been wonderful, but between the things she'd left unsaid and the things she had said but shouldn't have, Ashley was having a hard time forgiving herself.

* * *

Four Weeks Ago:

"So this is the famous Consort? Muy actractivo. You're a lucky woman, LC."

As James starred at Sha'ira with ill-disguised lust, Ashley could only nod in agreement. All the time she'd spent stressing over Shepard's party had been for nothing. The Consort knew how to charm people like Ashley knew how to shoot a rifle and right now, she had Jack eating out of the palm of her hand.

"I find your people's customs with regard to marking their skin fascinating," she told the convict as she examined the tattoos on her neck and arms. "It is as if your story is written on your body but in a code, only accessible to those you allow to know it."

"Wow," the biotic told her, "I never thought of it that way. But, yeah, that's pretty much me right there. We're not the only ones though," she added. "Turians put those markings on their faces and shit."

"They do," the Consort agreed, "But they are not personalized in the same way. They represent a turian's clan and colony, not who they are as individuals."

"Heh, what else would you expect?", Wrex laughed, "They're just a bunch of bony little soldiers with sticks up their asses anyway."

"That's not… that's not true," Tali objected, the quarian clearly having had a number of adult beverages that evening. "Turians are lots of fun."

If Ashley didn't know it was physically impossible for his species, she'd swear Garrus blushed at that. Sensing a opening, Wrex and Jack pounced, needling the couple over their new relationship and while the crew bantered, Sha'ira came back over to Ashley's couch, sliding down pleasantly close to the Spectre.

"I like your friends," she told her, a warm smile on her lovely face that was causing a similar warmth to spread through the Spectre's body. "I have seldom met such a collection of strong spirits."

"They are that," she agreed. "I'm not totally sure how Shepard keeps us all from killing each other sometimes, but once you get past that part, it's a hell of a team."

"She is a remarkable woman. As are you." The Consort slipped an arm around Ashley's shoulder and leaned over, making the Spectre's lips quiver with anticipation. Sha'ira began a long series of kisses that started off chaste but gradually heated up and as the asari's tongue caressed her own, Ashley moaned into her lover's mouth. She should have worried about who might be listening, but in that moment, she was too drunk on her lover's scent to care, nothing seeming to matter but the beautiful asari in her arms.

When she finally looked up, she realized she needn't have worried. Much of the rest of the crew was too preoccupied to pay attention to them, teasing having given way to other activities. Tali had moved into Garrus' lap and was stroking the turian's mandibles, Joker was blushing as EDI whispered something in his ear, and Shepard was leading Liara off to the upstairs bedroom while a series of smoldering glances passed between them.

Even many of the uncoupled members of the crew seemed to want to remedy that situation. Zaeed was trying his best to charm Samara, Specialist Traynor was getting better acquainted with Yeoman Chambers, and Kasumi's hands on James Vega's chiseled chest seemed to have gotten the lieutenant to forget his earlier fascination with the Consort.

Sha'ira caught her glancing around the room at the various displays of affection and she smiled approvingly. "It is only natural to want companionship at times such as these."

"I think they want a little more than companionship," Ashley smirked, but she had to agree. With peace having been brokered on Rannoch and the crew leaving for Thessia in the morning, the end of the war was fast approaching and it felt right to spend what time she could with the asari who she… She stopped her train of though, not sure of what she was feeling or if she should even be feeling it.

Instead, she focused on the very pleasant reality in front of her. Her hands encircled the Consort's face, kissing her once more, and this time, she let her fingers drift down, stroking the asari's curves through the silky fabric of her dress. The asari let out a breathy little whimper when Ashley brushed against the swell of her breasts, and the Spectre forced herself to pull back. "I think we better find a room."

* * *

Even as Ashley was locking the door to the spare bedroom behind them, she felt deft hands unzipping her dark blue bodysuit and roaming over the skin beneath it. Kisses started to run down the length of her spine and the Spectre gasped, lust pooling in her sex at every touch of Sha'ira's lips. No one had ever thrilled her as effortless as this asari could, and by the time her lover peeled off her panties, Ashley was already soaking wet. She couldn't even make it to the bed, slumping back against the wall and massaging Sha'ira's crest as the gorgeous woman beneath her went to work.

She came with almost embarrassing speed. The heat of Sha'ira's mouth, the deft movements of her tongue, and almost more than that, the unbearably sexy look in her eyes as she pleasured Ashley were too much for the Spectre to last long. When her body finished trembling though, she found her energy, carrying the Consort to the bed and tearing off her clothes so hastily she feared she might have torn the expensive garments.

The asari was panting with need by the time Ashley entered her, her mouth lavishing kisses on her wonderfully smooth teal skin even as her fingers probed inside her azure. The soft sounds Sha'ira made as the Spectre took her were almost enough to make Ashley peak again by themselves and when they at last melded, it took only a few strokes of the Consort's hand on her sex before she was joining her lover, the two women tumbling into an incredible climax together.

Afterwards, as they lay under the crisp sheets, stroking bodies still glistening with sweat, there had been so much that Ashley had wanted to say. Most of it she did. She'd told the asari how incredibly sexy she was, how good she made her feel, and how glad she was that Sha'ira had come with her to the party. But she'd still been a coward. It wasn't until the asari had drifted off to sleep that Ashley was finally able to give voice to the thought that had been growing in her mind that night, the thought that now, she couldn't get out of her head. Placing a soft kiss on the Consort's crest, she had whispered, "I love you, Sha'ira."

* * *

The Present:

"I have found her, Doctor T'Soni." The sound of the drone's voice, cool and unemotional, pulled Ashley out of the daydream she'd been having and back to a far more tense reality.

"Show us," she insisted to Glyph and seconds later, a piece of security video was being displayed on the screen in front of the two women.

"This footage is from Docking Bay 21 and begins 26 minutes after the Reapers appeared in the system and 19 minutes before all Citadel defenses were disabled."

The scene was just as chaotic as Ashley would have imagined, a sea of panicked refugees pushing and shoving their way through the docking bay, trying to reach the few ships available to evacuate the station. In the center of it all, was Sha'ira, the Shadow Broker's system having highlighted her face and focused on the footage that showed her passage most clearly. Ashley's lover was making her way towards a medium-sized ship named the _Attitude Adjustment_. In spite of the chaos around her, the asari maintained her usual calm facade but Ashley couldn't help but believe that beneath it, she must have been terrified and her heart hurt once more that she couldn't have been there with her.

Suddenly, the sound of gunfire rang out and a large krogan wearing the red armor of the Blood Pack and holding a sizeable rifle appeared, towering above the crowd of refugees. "Hold it right there, you maggots!", he roared. "This ain't no charity. You can't pay the 10,000 credits, you can find another way out of here."

Ashley shook her head. "The world was crashing down around them and these assholes wasted time trying to make a profit. Unbelievable."

"Once, I too would have found it hard to fathom," Liara told her, "But working as the Shadow Broker has given me some insight into people such as these. To them, desperation is only an opportunity to be seized. They risk death all time; spending a few minutes to make sure that if the war is won, they come out of it wealthy seems to them a good bargain."

Operating with brusque efficiency, a few of the krogan's mercenary's associates collected the payments and though most of the refugees too poor to afford it fell back, looking for another way to escape, a few of them made a frantic attempt to force their way onboard. The krogan didn't hesitate. He fired his weapon into the crowd and Ashley winced, watching as the unfortunate souls were ripped to pieces, their blood spraying over the rest of the crowd.

Mercifully, Sha'ira wasn't one of the ones who fell. The asari paid the usurious fee demanded of her, and as she disappeared onto the ship, Ashley unclenched her fists, relieved that she had at least made it that far. "Glyph," she heard Liara ask, "What information do we have on the _Attitude Adjustment _since the fall of the Citadel?"

"According to the available reports," the drone began, and Ashley feared that her heart was about to burst out of her chest as she waited to hear what came next. "It successfully reached the Mass Relay and travelled to the Omega Nebula. After that, I have no further information as to its whereabouts. However, that system is not know to have fallen to the Reapers prior to their destruction."

"She's alive," Ashley said quietly, daring to speak her hope aloud for the first time in days. But probably not safe. Those mercenaries hadn't exactly seemed like the most trustworthy people to be flying with, and with Sha'ira's ship having vanished after reaching Omega, Ashley knew that waiting around here for the Consort to reappear wasn't an option. She had to go after her.


	4. Chapter 4

"I'm sorry about this, skipper."

"For what?", Shepard asked with a wane smile. The commander had woken up a few hour ago, but though she was far from ready to be out of bed, what Ashley had to tell her couldn't wait any longer.

"For leaving. I know that there's still a hell of a lot of mess to clean up here, but I have to go after Sha'ira. With what Garrus and Liara found…"

"I know." From her hospital bed, Shepard reached over to the chair next to her and placed a hand on her bondmate. "If it were Liara, I'd be doing the same thing. I'm just sorry I can't lend you the _Normandy_. The Alliance can't spare the ship right now, but you take as much time as you need to find her."

"Thank you for understanding," Ashley told her commander. "And I'll be fine. There's a salarian supply ship leaving for Omega tonight and I'll figure out my next move from there." She hesitated. "It's just… I do feel a little selfish going off on a personal matter."

Shepard pulled herself up in bed. "Don't," she insisted, her voice emphatic in spite of her weakness, "You've earned a little leave."

"Please, Shepard, do not overstrain yourself," Liara chided her bondmate.

The commander lay back down in bed, but not without a roll of her eyes. "Why, Doctor T'Soni," she said mischievously, "I didn't realize your degree was in medicine."

"I do not have to be a medical doctor to know you should rest after nearly dying. But she is right," Liara added, turning to Ashley, "You have been putting your own life on hold for a long time. I think you are entitled to be a little selfish right now." She smiled slightly before leaning over to give the commander a quick kiss. "And that goes for you too, my love. I do not care what the Alliance tells you, you are taking all the time you need to recover before you even consider going back on duty."

"Well, thanks a lot, both of you," Ashley said, giving both of her friends a hug before getting up to leave. She didn't know what she'd find when she got to Omega, but of one thing, she had no doubt: without their help, she wouldn't have gotten nearly as far with Sha'ira as she had.

* * *

Five Weeks Ago:

"Is this really where she lives?"

Standing in the lobby of the upscale residential complex on the Citadel, Ashley's guts were in the process of tying themselves into knots. She'd never been in a building quite that nice before. Everything from the asari paintings in the lobby, to the gilded décor, to the snooty turian sitting at the reception desk, screamed money and it was making her feel like the dumb grunt she'd been when Shepard first found her on Eden Prime three years earlier.

"Are you doubting the Shadow Broker?", Liara whispered to her with a stern expression that she was trying very hard to keep from turning into a grin. "I am quite certain that not only does the Consort live here, but that she is home right now."

Ashley didn't even bother wondering how Liara knew that, too caught up in her own worries. "I'm sure your intel is good," she told the asari, "But it's just… God, should I really be doing this? Remember that turian general she shot down? He turned into a drunken wreck."

"Oraka was kind of pathetic," Shepard agreed. "But I wouldn't worry about it. Five minutes after you met up with Sha'ira again at that party, she was fucking you silly. I'm pretty sure she likes you."

The memory of their encounter at the fundraiser caused a flush of arousal to bloom in Ashley, and even as she tried to explain her concern, she realized she was probably turning the color of her commander's hair. "I get that. I mean, we've definitely got a connection, but does it go beyond sex?"

"Sha'ira has lived a long time," Liara offered by way of encouragement, "And met a great many people. I doubt that she would have pursued this affair with you as far as she has if she didn't have real feelings."

Ashley wasn't so sure. The Shadow Broker may have been a romantic, but in her experience, people had sex for all kinds of reasons. Still, she nodded, trying to convince herself that maybe Liara knew something about other asari that she didn't.

"Now go get 'em," Shepard told her with a playful shove in the direction of the reception desk. "Liara and I have plans."

Probably plans to have sex on every surface of their new apartment, the marine thought to herself, and from the eagerness with which Liara took hold of Shepard's hand and led her out of the lobby, Ashley suspected she was right.

As the couple left, Ashley went over to the desk. The turian behind it looked her over, seemingly unimpressed with the simple Alliance uniform she was wearing. "Is there anything I can do for you, miss?" he asked dismissively.

Deciding to give the smug bastard a surprise, she put on her crispest military voice. "Yes. Please call up to Sha'ira and tell her that Spectre Ashley Williams is here to see her." She had to admit that she got a little pleasure from the way the turian jumped at the mention of her title, but only a little. It wasn't really a doorman that she needed to impress.

* * *

Two minutes later, Ashley was standing outside the Consort's door, and after a single knock, the asari opened it. She looked as beautiful as ever, but more casual than usual, wearing a robe of red silk that clung tantalizingly to her sleek curves.

"Ashley," she said warmly, "What a pleasant surprise. I must apologize for my appearance; I just got out of the bath."

"No need," she replied, perhaps a bit too quickly. "You look great." Indeed, the marine was doing her best not to leer as her brain tried to decide just how little the asari was wearing underneath her robe.

"Please come in, Spectre Williams," Sha'ira told her with a smile before adding, "I never did get a chance to congratulate you on receiving that honor the last time we saw one another."

"Yeah, we were, uh, kind of busy," she euphemized, the not-leering part of her plan getting harder to stick with. "But anyway, you said to look you up when I got the chance, and I just got the chance."

"I am pleased that you did." Sha'ira led her into an apartment that was not only, like the rest of the building, expensive, but also tasteful. The art of a variety of species was on display, but somehow the turian statues, the volus pottery, the asari portrait, and the human oil painting all seemed to compliment each other, creating an atmosphere that felt almost as warm and inviting as the woman who owned them.

The Consort indicated one of the couches, and as Ashley sat down, she asked, "Can I offer you something to drink?"

"No, I'm good." She hardly needed liquor right now. The intoxicant of the asari's presence alone was enough to make her light-headed, and she wanted her wits about her for this conversation.

"Very well." Sha'ira sat down next to Ashley on the couch, not touching her but close enough that the marine felt her pulse quicken at the ease with which she could.

"It is fortunate that I was home tonight," Sha'ira told her. "I have been quite busy of late; there are so many people in crisis and all of us must do what we can to help."

Ashley bit her lip, not sure how much she should say about the source of her information. "I, uh, have some well-connected friends, and they told me you'd be off work now." She could have gone to the Consort's chambers instead, but she'd wanted to see her at home, to make it clear that she wanted their relationship to be personal, not professional.

"However it came about, I am glad you are here," Sha'ira replied, apparently deciding to accept Ashley's explanation for now. "As I was saying, these are trying times and comfort is especially important."

"It is," she agreed, "But I wasn't exactly looking for that right now." The marine paused, uncertain how to continue. She had no idea if something like what she thought of as dating was the sort of thing that a centuries-old asari would be interested in at all, let alone interested in doing with her.

"I was not referring to you, Ashley," Sha'ira told her, bringing a delicate teal hand to rest on the Spectre's knee. "I may try to bring comfort to others, but that doesn't mean that I don't need some myself as well."

"Oh," she sputtered, not having expected that, "I…"

Before she could say any more, the Consort leaned over and slid her other hand through the human's long, dark hair even as her soft lips were catching Ashley's. Kissing Sha'ira wasn't like any other kiss Ashley had ever known. The asari tasted so sweet, like berries in summer, and as she moaned into her mouth, everything that she had come there to say was rapidly slipping out of her mind.

When Sha'ira's lips finally slid apart from hers, though, she made herself remember. It would have been incredibly easy to just let things continue, but though her body was screaming protests at her, she couldn't. Their last meeting had reawakened feelings that went beyond sex, even really fantastic sex, and she had to let the Consort know that.

"Wait," she managed to say, "I need to tell you something."

Though one hand stayed on her knee, the asari pulled back enough to let Ashley think, at least a little bit. "What is wrong?", Sha'ira asked. "I did not think I was being too forward, considering our last meeting."

"No, that's not it." She took a breath, trying to gather her thoughts. "Listen" she started, "I like you. A lot. I know I had to leave pretty suddenly three years ago, and I'm sorry about that, but ever since then, I haven't been able to stop thinking about you."

Sha'ira started to respond, but Ashley held up her hand. "Please," she implored her, "I have to get this out now or I feel like I never will." The asari stopped and she continued, "I get that we don't know each other that well. We come from different worlds, literally. I don't know what exactly you want from me, and honestly, I'm not totally sure what I exactly want from you either. But I do know this: I care about you and I'm just hoping that maybe you feel a little bit the same way and that whatever this is, it's not going to disappear all of a sudden because if it is, I think I need to stop before I get hurt."

Reaching the end of her speech, she stopped short and as the asari took a long moment to consider her words, Ashley held her breath, hoping that she hadn't come across as a too much of a babbling idiot. Before she could get lost in her own head, though, Sha'ira spoke, tracing her fingers softly along the marine's knee as she did.

"This is hardly the easiest time for any of us to make promises about the future," she told her, "But I can assure you that I do share your feelings. You are kind and brave, Ashley Williams, a beautiful woman both in body and in mind. When I am with you, it makes me feel more secure and confident, as if somehow, we will come through this ordeal, and if we do, I would certainly like to explore our connection more fully. I am not certain if that is enough for you, but it is what I have to offer."

Ashley exhaled, at last letting herself relase her worries in the asari's embrace. "That sounds just fine," she told her as her strong arms encircled Sha'ira's slim waist. "More than fine, actua…" She didn't finish her thought as the Consorts lips found hers once more, but that was okay. She was pretty sure Sha'ira took her meaning.

* * *

The Present:

"If we come through this ordeal." Those words were still echoing in Ashley's head as she walked down the gangplank of the salarian transport and into the fetid sea of lawlessness that was Omega. The war was over, but they weren't through it yet. She'd never been here before, but if the tales that Shepard and Wrex had told her were even half true, it was hard to believe that Sha'ira was anything resembling secure right now.

* * *

**And that's the last of the flashbacks for now, as we're now caught up with where the last part, A Chance Encounter, which contains the aforementioned fundraiser, left off. Hope you're still enjoying the story.**


	5. Chapter 5

Omega more than lived up to its reputation. As Ashley walked through the station, the acrid stench of uncollected garbage and poorly-ventilated emissions filled her nose even as the squalid chaos of its streets assaulted her eyes. As bad as the place was usually supposed to be, it was clear that the end of the war had made it even worse. Refugees from a double dozen systems had flocked there, and the streets were filled with the poor and desperate, along with those who would prey on them, all blended together into a noisy chaos.

Her dark blue armor and prominently displayed assault rifle worked well enough to discourage the second group, and Ashley was able to make her way to her destination without too much trouble. Unfortunately, Liara didn't have many resources here. Aria had enjoyed only mixed success in rooting out the Broker's agents, but Cerberus during their recent occupation had been much more thorough. Liara had been left with few operatives and no time to rebuild this particular network, which meant Ashley would need to find another source of information on Sha'ira's missing ship and she only knew one place to start.

As the throbbing music of Afterlife filled the Spectre's ears, her gaze was drawn to the asari gyrating on the stages above the dance floor, a pretty purple-skinned maiden with dark eyes and very few clothes. It was almost a cliché, the asari stripper, and one that she was ashamed to admit to herself had influenced a naïve, slightly xenophobic gunnery sergeant. God, she'd been so stupid. Certainly, the shy, brilliant archeologist her commander had come to love was a very different sort of asari, and so too was Sha'ira. Ashley still didn't fully understand quite what it was that the Consort did, but she knew it was far more than the sordid exchange of money for sex.

She should never have suggested otherwise and the memory of their last fight left a knot in the Spectre's stomach as she reached the stairs at the back of the club that led up to Aria T'Loak's office. A grizzled batarian blocked her path, the alien's four eyes narrowing at her. "What do you want?", he grunted, looking questioningly at her rifle and high grade combat armor.

She met his gaze without flinching. This was probably Bray. A tough soldier, but not unreasonable if the reports Shepard had filled on Aria and her people were to be believed. "I need to see Aria. It's urgent."

"And you are?"

"Lt. Commander Ashley Williams, Special Tactics and Recon."

She'd hoped her rank would impress him, but instead it drew a response from the top of the staircase. "Send her up," came from above, and at the sound of his mistresses' voice, the batarian stepped aside, allowing Ashley to enter the Queen of Omega's office. Its self-appointed ruler sat on her famous couch while a couple of turian bodyguards stood at attention on the sides of the room, rifles in their hands.

"Ashley Williams," Aria said, regarding the Spectre with an arrogant stare. "What brings a good little girl like you to my sordid corner of the galaxy?"

She didn't take the bait, staying focused on her mission. "I need your help finding someone."

"And what do I look like, a detective agency? I have plenty of my own problems to deal with right now, as I'm sure you can see from the mess outside."

"Wouldn't you like the Council to owe you a favor?", Ashley asked.

"The Council had little enough pull here before the Reapers came," the old asari replied. "Now, they have next to nothing. Those fools didn't even make it off the Citadel from what I hear, and by the time their replacements get picked, I doubt helping out the Terminus is going to be high on their list of priorities."

Ashley bit the inside of her cheek. Aria was right, and while the asari wasn't the only source of information on Omega, she was probably the best, and the only one the Spectre knew. Every minute she wasted, Sha'ira's trail grew colder and the Spectre couldn't afford that. Swallowing her pride, she tried something else. "Don't do it for them then. Do it for Shepard. She helped you take back this station. You owe her one." She hated leaning on her commander's reputation, wanting to be taken seriously as a Spectre in her own right, but she was short on options right now.

The commander's name, unfortunately, didn't have the magical effect Ash had hoped for. "My recollection," Aria replied coldly, "Is that I paid that debt with the mercenaries, ships, and eezo I sent to help her war effort."

"Our war effort," Ashley snapped back, running out of patience. "You needed the Reapers destroyed as much as she did. Nobody needs you back running this place except you. Besides," she added, thinking of the story Shepard had told her of the final battle against Petrovsky, when Aria had gotten herself caught in the general's trap, "She saved your life. Doesn't that count for something?"

For an instant, Aria paused and then an amused smile started to spread across her face. "All right," she said, "You've made your point. Just who is it that you want found badly enough to call in your bosses' marker?"

"The Consort," Ashley told her, hoping she could keep the depths of her relief from showing on her face. "She came here on a Blood Pack ship called the _Attitude Adjustment_ but I don't know where it went after that."

If Aria was surprised to hear who Ashley was looking for, she didn't let it show, simply entering a command into her omni-tool. Moments later, a dark blue skinned asari in leathers made her way into the office. "Tela," the Queen of Omega asked her subordinate, "What happened to the _Attitude Adjustment_ after it docked here."

The other asari pulled up a data pad and scrolled through a list of ship names. "The _Attitude Adjustment_ docked here the day the Citadel fell. It stayed for two days, and then left, but not through the relay, so it should still be somewhere nearby."

"You can't give me more than that?", Ashley asked. Even the local cluster was too big to sweep without a fleet or at least a very good ship at her disposal.

"According to our intelligence," Tela told her, "The passengers stayed on the ship while it was in port, but some of the Blood Pack members took a number of meetings while they were here. Most of them were fairly standard, purchasing supplies and the like, but one of them was with a batarian named Quelt."

"Quelt? Who's that?"

Aria snorted. "A slimy little worm who fancies himself a fixer. He has his hands in a lot of the sorts of businesses that aren't legal in the boring parts of the galaxy."

"Where is he?", Ash asked. A disturbing thought was starting to form in her mind, but she wasn't ready to give voice to it just yet.

"He operates out of an office just off of the market district, as I recall," Aria told her. "Tela, give our friend the address so she can be on her way."

* * *

Quelt's office turned out to be a located in a particularly run-down complex of rooms two blocks away from the markets, but in spite of the garbage on the floors and the flickering lights in the hallways, when Ashley got closer to the door, she could see that it was new, with a quality lock. The rifle carried by the batarian standing outside of it looked new too, and as she approached, his four eyes gazed suspiciously at the armed human.

"What do you want, hairball?", he asked, using a nickname that had become common among some more anti-human aliens.

"To talk to your boss." She was getting tired of having this same conversation, and this guy definitely seemed like a bigger asshole than Bray.

"Well, he's busy now. You'll have to come back later, maybe when your species learns…"

He never finished his sentence. Deciding that the batarian had no intention of letting her in, Ashley made her move. Before the guard could react, her gauntleted hand lashed out, striking him in the throat. He gasped, his own hand moving instinctively to protect his windpipe, and while he did, she brought a foot up to make contact with his groin. He doubled over in agony, and with a crack, her rifle came down on the top of his head, knocking him out cold.

Kicking his gun across the floor away from her, Ashley activated her omni-tool. The lock may have been good, but she had a Spectre-grade cracking program installed, and seconds later, the door slid open. Another batarian was sitting behind a desk, looking at his terminal and haggling with a volus.

"10,000 credits is out of the question, Kar'shan clan," the smaller alien protested, "But perhaps 8,000 if the merchandise…"

It was just then that the batarian noticed her standing there. He reached into the drawer of his desk, but before he could take out whatever it was he was going for, she had her rifle leveled. "Don't even think about it," she hissed. At her words, the volus turned around and the batarian's hand twitched as he did, in fact, think about it. "I'm an Alliance marine," she told him, "You'll never make it."

The batarian pulled his hand back into view and the volus threw his short, stubbly arms up in the air. "Please, Earth clan," he pleaded, "I mean you no harm."

Ashley gestured with her rifle towards the door. "Get out of here."

The volus ran as quickly as his little legs would allow, stumbling over the unconscious batarian outside in his haste, and the man behind the desk placed his hands down on its surface. He looked concerned but not scared by her; clearly he was the kind of person who'd had a gun pointed at him before. "What do you want, human?", he asked. "I assume not to kill me, or you wouldn't be wasting both of our time."

"Information, Quelt. You took a meeting with a member of the Blood Pack off of the _Attitude Adjustment_. I need to know what it was about."

"Just business," the batarian told her coolly. "They had cargo they needed to unload and I helped them out."

"Cargo?", she asked suspiciously. "What kind of cargo?"

Quelt shrugged. "They didn't offer and I didn't ask."

His evasions were not making her feel better. "Wrong," she snarled. "To help them move their cargo, you would've needed to know what it was." She trained the rifle on the center of his chest. "One more chance. What was the Blood Pack selling?"

"Weapons," he answered. "Perfectly legal in the Terminus Systems," but there was a twinge of nervousness in the batarian's voice as he said it that made her doubt the veracity of his response.

"Where's the buyer you sent them to?"

"If you'll let me access my system," he offered, "I can get that information for you."

"Go ahead, but keep in mind if you're sending me on a wild goose chase, you'll live just long enough to regret it."

"I wouldn't dream of it." He swiveled his chair back to face his terminal and punched in a few commands as Ashley's mind raced. What weapons could the Blood Pack have had to sell? All she'd seen being loaded onto the ship were the refugees, which meant…

Even as she was following her thought to its logical, horrible conclusion, her trained eye noticed a flash of movement behind her. Out of a port in the wall, a combat drone had manifested, a shimmering ball of purple light that loosed a powerful shock at the Spectre.

Ashley hit the floor, letting her shields take the brunt of the impact, and rolled away from the drone. Quelt had taken advantage of her distraction to draw a heavy pistol from out of his desk and, as she leapt up, he fired at her torso. She twisted away from the shot, wincing slightly as it penetrated her shields but glanced off the side of her armor.

She returned fire, aiming a burst at the arm holding the batarian's gun. She needed Quelt alive after all, and when his shoulder exploded in a red mist, she worried she might have done too much damage. There was little time to think with the drone still on her though, and as it fired again, she leapt over the desk, letting the sturdy metal construct and the papers atop it take the hit.

Whirling around, she fired a concussive shot to the center of the drone, shutting it down, before pointing her rifle back at the bloody, screaming batarian. "That was not smart," she snarled. He was too distracted by his wound to answer though and she slapped him hard across the face, refocusing his attention on the Spectre.

"Now," she ordered, "You're going to bring up the real files, or I'm going to let you bleed out on the floor of this fucking hellhole."

With his one good hand, Quelt went to work on his terminal, and seconds later, Ashley's fears were confirmed. After resupplying on Omega, the mercenaries had taken their passengers out to a small mining station in the asteroid belt, where an impromptu market had been set up, a market where…

"They're selling the refugees," she said flatly, horror beating down her emotional response. "They're selling them as slaves."

"I just…", he sputtered, realizing just how much trouble he was in. "I just made the introductions."

"You helped to sell desperate people who barely escaped from the Reapers with their lives! You sold Sha'ira!"

"Please," he begged, too scared to ask about the name she'd just said. "You promised you wouldn't let me bleed out if I told you where they went."

"That's right," she told him, her voice icy with hate as she raised her rifle once more. "You won't bleed out."


	6. Chapter 6

"You knew about this!? Why didn't you say something?"

Ashley stared in disbelief at Liara's face on the screen in front of her. When she'd called her friend from a rented terminal on Omega, she'd expected her to be shocked by what Ashley had found out about Sha'ira. Instead, while sympathetic, the Shadow Broker had been unsurprised by her news.

"I didn't know about her specifically. I don't even have much information about this particular market on Maglar Station. I only meant… It is not a shock that such a place exists. This war has left countless people vulnerable to exploitation, and at the same time, it has created a need for workers in order to rebuild what the Reapers destroyed. It is inevitable that some people will resort to slavery as a way to fill that need."

Ashley took a deep breath, trying to settle herself down. "I'm sorry, Liara. Of course you didn't know where she was. I don't know what I was thinking just now."

"You're worried for Sha'ira," the young asari said understandingly. "I know how that kind of fear can affect a person."

The Spectre shook her head. "It doesn't make it okay for me to snap like that." Her mind flashed back to Quelt's bloody corpse lying on the floor of his office. It wasn't that she regretted his death. The galaxy was a better place without a slave-trading piece of trash like him in it. But the anger that had seized her when she pulled the trigger frightened her. Sha'ira would need her to keep her head if Ashley was going to have a chance at saving her, not shoot first and turn on her friends later.

"It's all right," Liara reassured her. "The important thing now is that we find her. You have sent me the data from the batarian's system. Hopefully it will offer some guidance on how to proceed."

"I appreciate it. I know you must have your hands full with Shepard's recovery."

"I'm fine." The red-headed commander staggered into the frame, wearing a pair of Alliance-issue pajamas and in obvious pain when she moved, her words not-withstanding. "It's just a few cuts and scrapes. Nothing to worry about."

"Shepard," Liara told her, a mild disapproval registering on her pretty face, "While I appreciate your desire to help, you are not supposed to be up." She turned back to Ashley. "She is not easy to get into bed."

Shepard smirked and Liara blushed when she realized what she said. "Yes, well, at all events," she blurted out, eager to move past her gaffe, "You do need to lie down."

"You're probably right," Shepard conceded, her tone turning serious, "I'll go back to bed. But I mean it Ash. I may be laid up, but I'll be okay. Whatever you need to find Sha'ira, we're there for you."

The commander hobbled back off of the screen and Liara returned to the problem at hand. "The Consort being who she is makes this both easier and harder," she explained. "On the one hand, she will not have been sold anonymously as part of a large lot of slaves, which would make her harder to track. On the other hand, the sort of person who has the credits to buy her will be wealthy and probably keen to hide their acquisition."

There was something chilling in the business-like way Liara could discuss the buying and selling of a person, especially someone she knew, and Ashley found herself grateful she hadn't been the one to become the Shadow Broker. Wallowing in that world couldn't be good for the soul, and she hoped that once things had settled down, Liara would do what she'd talked about and find someplace quiet to retire with her commander. Right now, though, Ashley and more importantly, Sha'ira needed her current position.

"Okay, so how am I going to get onto this station?", she asked. "The assholes who sold Sha'ira probably know something about where she is."

"You will probably need back-up," Liara told her. "This is a fairly sizable operation. Sending in one person, even a Spectre, would be extremely dangerous."

"What about Aria?", Ashley suggested.

"I doubt she will be of much help. She seldom acts unless there's something in it for her, and right now, she is fairly weak. Her forces were badly depleted retaking Omega, which will not make her more charitable."

"You're probably right," Ashley sighed. "I had to use the skipper's name just to get her to help me find Quelt."

"I will do my best to locate some assets that can be of use," the asari promised her, "As well as try to find you a way onto the station." She paused. "I'm sorry, but it may take a little time."

Ashley swallowed hard. With every passing hour, Sha'ira might be descending further into some hell, but what choice did the Spectre have? Being stupid and impulsive would only ensure that the Consort stayed in the hands of whatever monster had purchased her. No, Ashley would wait even if it killed her.

* * *

Knowing she had to be patient was one thing, but as she sat at her table in Afterlife, the reality was proving to be quite another. An hour and a half ago, Liara had sent her a message telling her to go to the club and wait for her contact to arrive, and with every passing minute, the Spectre was getting more irritable. Afterlife's flesh show, which the previously day had merely reminded her of her lost love, now felt more sinister. She wondered how free the dancers really were, and what other services Aria compelled them to provide to her clients. So distracting was her anger that she that she only noticed her contact had arrived when she heard the sound of his gravelly voice behind her.

"Well, if it isn't Shepard bloody junior."

Ashley turned at the words, surprised when she realized who it was. She'd only met Zaeed Massani once, at Shepard's party, and that night she'd been much too preoccupied with Sha'ira to pay him much mind. Still, with the massive scar around one eye, the man wasn't easy to confuse with anyone else.

"Zaeed," she said sharply, annoyed at his nickname for her, "I'm guessing you're the one I'm supposed to be meeting. What the hell are you even doing out here in this shit hole?"

He shrugged, sitting down across the table from her. "Just taking care of some old business. Anyway, the doctor found me and made me a deal to help you find this girl of yours."

"What kind of deal?", she asked warily. She'd never trusted mercenaries and while having worked with Shepard bought him a little credit, it was just a little. Based on some of the stories she'd heard from Tali, he wasn't exactly a saint. Of course, a saint might not be what she needed right now.

"The kind that's none of your goddamn business." Zaeed shook his head. "I don't know why I'm trusting them after that bloody refinery disaster, but I guess saving the galaxy gets them one more shot."

Ashley wasn't entirely sure what the old mercenary was talking about, but she wasn't really in a position to worry about it either. "All right," she said simply, "I'll leave it between you three. So do we have a plan as to how we get onto this mining station?"

Instead of answering, Zaeed reached behind him and pulled out a set of binders, setting them down on the table between them.

"Oh, no," Ashley protested, guessing what he had in mind. "I am not wearing those things."

"Listen," he explained, "I know a couple of people involved with this fucking operation, but not that well. They're only going to trust me if I give them a damn good reason, and it can't bloody well be that Council Spectre Ashley Williams and I want to tear the place apart looking for some asari." She nodded reluctantly, and he continued, "But if I bring them some choice merchandise, nobody's gonna question what an old merc is doing there."

She gritted her teeth, reminding her that this was for Sha'ira. "All right. We rent a shuttle, get out to the station, and turn over rocks until somebody tells us where Sha'ira is. Anybody gets in our way though, they're getting their asses kicked."

"Whatever you say, sweetheart." Zaeed gave her what passed for a smile on his weather-beaten face. "Something tells me you're going to be a lot more fun to work with than your boss was."

* * *

Ashley wouldn't have thought it was possible, but Maglar Station actually made Omega look cheerful. The old mining facility was half a wreck, with discarded machinery, ore carts, and exposed wiring strewn all around the vast chamber that had once been used to sort the minerals.

It wasn't the physical plant that was getting to her though. It was the people. Though the hall was filled with an incredible diversity of species, there were really only three types present. The first were the buyers, a collection of predatory individuals, their disgusting gazes crawling over the "merchandise" as they walked from one make-shift stall to another. Another group were sellers, hard-eyed men and women herding their prisoners around like cattle, shoving them out for inspection like pieces of meat whenever anyone would show the slightest interest.

It was that third group though, the largest, that Ashley couldn't take her eyes off of. Looking at their clothes, she could tell that it had only been days or weeks since many of them had been farmers, or doctors, or engineers, living perfectly normal lives. They were ordinary people until the Reapers came, and just when they thought they were safe from that nightmare, they'd fallen into the clutches of these animals. A few of the prisoners seemed defiant, but the bulk of them, whether asari or human, turian or drell, had the same haunted looks and the same blanks stares, as if the succession of horrors they'd been through had overwhelmed them.

In spite of her revulsion, the Spectre kept forcing herself to look at the masses of captives, hoping to see Sha'ira there among them, but there was no sign of the asari she loved. The only thing she got was the occasional catcall, cries of "Nice ass," and "How much for that pussy?", that bothered her more than usual. She'd dealt with pigs with big mouths ever since she sprouted breasts, but usually, she had a rifle in hand, ready to kick the ass of anyone who crossed the line. Now, in handcuffs and without her guns, she felt uncomfortably vulnerable even if she wasn't really a prisoner.

About half-way across the hall, Zaeed stopped in front of a grizzled turian, a tall, ugly brute with a long scar along one side of his face who was watching the room with a jaundiced eye. "Massani!", he laughed, "Good to see you again. I've got to admit I was surprised when you called. Slaving never was your line of work."

"Desperate times, Gradian," he snorted. "Had a nice little nest egg set aside for my retirement when those tentacled bastards blew up the bank it was in. Figured I better find a way to make my money back before I get too fucking old to shoot straight."

The turian stepped off of the wall he'd been lounging against and looked at Ashley. "She's not a bad start I guess. Pretty enough, if you're into humans," he opined, his detached tone making it clear that he wasn't. "I'm sure one of the flesh merchants will give you a few thousand credits for her."

"This one's no whore," Zaeed told his old associate as Ashley fought down the bile in her throat at the turian's words. "She's Alliance special ops. Tried to take me down over that job I did for Cerberus a year or so back. That's where she got this."

He reached out a callused hand and brushed back the marine's dark hair, revealing a bruise around her right eye. He really had given it to her, but it wasn't in battle, just in a fleabag motel on Omega the night before after they'd agreed this would be their cover. Her real identity, as a Spectre and friend of the feared Commander Shepard, might spook potential buyers, but they wanted her to be distinctive enough to attract the right kind of attention.

"I figure even with the war over, there's gonna be plenty of need for good soldiers to clean up the mess, and this one's pretty bloody skilled." He rubbed his side. "Still hurts like a bitch where she shot me."

She glared at Zaeed, trying to take the loathing she felt for this place and redirect it into a convincing performance as a defiant prisoner. It seemed to have worked well enough, because Gradian took notice. "Looks like she's still got some fight in her."

"Well, she's a goddamn soldier, not a nursemaid. That's why I'm looking for someone who appreciates quality merchandise," he explained, "Not like this lot, buying half-starved scum by the truck-load."

The turian stroked his mandibles thoughtfully. "I think I know somebody who fits that description. She's handled some of the more interesting specialty items coming through here."

"Then that sounds like the bitch I need to talk to," Zaeed agreed.

"Come on, I'll make the intro," Gradian promised as he led them across the floor. "But I have to warn you, this asari can be a little… intense."

* * *

**So, what do you think of Ashley's new partner? I haven't gotten to write Zaeed much and he's lots of fun. Plus, dubious slave dealers and much more coming up. Hope you're still enjoying the story.  
**


	7. Chapter 7

"So, where is this bloody bitch's office?", Zaeed grumbled as the freight elevator lurched its way towards the upper levels of the station, the sounds it made not inspiring much confidence in its safety.

"Not far," Gradian reassured him. "Ilara just likes to stay out of the scrum. She's a little more high end than most of those trash dealers down on the trading floor."

As the lift ground to a stop, Ashley tried to swallow down her anger once more. A part of her just wanted to cold-cock this turian and storm the office, but without any real idea of what awaited them, it was too risky. For all she knew, this asari wasn't even the one they needed to talk to and that meant it wasn't yet time to blow their cover.

A short stroll down a poorly lit corridor brought them to their destination at last. The room they were approaching seemed to have actually been an office when this was a working asteroid mine, a plain metal desk in its center and stacks of filing boxes strewn about the floor testifying as to its former function. The décor was not, however, what Ashley noticed first. There were not one but two krogan guards standing outside the room, brutes perhaps not quite as large as Wrex, but big enough, with solid armor and nasty-looking shotguns that they trained warily on the new arrivals.

In spite of their weapons, though, it was still the asari that drew her eye. Aria T'Loak may have looked menacing, but this woman was positively predatory. Clad in black leather and tightly fitted body armor, the dark-skinned asari resembled nothing so much as a panther looking at a wounded animal, radiating a sleek menace that was somehow far more frightening than the crude muscle of the krogan.

As their little group entered the room, the two guards parted to let them pass while their mistress sauntered up to turian, running a hand over his mandible as if she were stroking a favored pet. "Gradian," she purred, her husky voice sounding like whiskey and sex and danger all rolled into one, "So nice of you to come and see me again. I see you've brought friends. Introduce us."

Ashley could see the turian swallow, even the hardened warrior apparently put off his game by the woman. "Zaeed Massani," he said a bit too quickly. "An old mercenary buddy of mine. He had something I thought you might be interested in. Zaeed, this Ilara."

"Zaeed Massani." The named slid off of her tongue as if she was caressing it. "I've heard of you. An expert killer by all accounts."

"I handle my end," the mercenary said gruffly, moving straight past the small talk. "I've got something special here and I heard you're the person to see about moving that kind of merchandise."

"I might be," she agreed, "Depending on what you're selling. I do have standards after all." She looked Ashley up and down, as if the Spectre was a piece of meat to be devoured. "She does look intriguing, I must confess. What is she?"

"I'm not a thing, you fucking bitch," the Spectre protested, before being cut off by a smack to the back of head from Zaeed.

"She's Alliance. A wet-work operative. Bit of a mouth on her, but she's got a hell of a skill set. You might need to put a control chip in her till she learns some flaming manners, but I guarantee she's well worth the trouble."

"Those chips are salarian trash," one of the krogan growled. "They slow you down, and that's if the slaves don't fry their own brains fighting them."

"Oh don't worry," the asari purred, "I don't think a chip will be necessary." She glided over to Ashley, running a crooked finger under the marine's chin. "You'll behave for me, won't you, girl?"

Ashley spat in her face. It was what was expected of her as a defiant prisoner, but it was also a reaction to what she was feeling. Ilara's presence, her touch, were repulsive, and yet somehow also enticing in a sick way. It was like a perverse reflection of the surprising attraction she'd first felt towards Sha'ira three years ago, and the comparison had left the marine further on edge.

To her surprise, Ilara didn't seem angry, coolly wiping her cheek clean with a black gloved hand. "She has wonderful spirit," she declared. "I just might have to keep her for myself. The challenging ones are always the most satisfying in the end and it's been too long since I've had really good pet."

"Fine, whatever," Zaeed grumbled. "Make me an offer. By the way," he asked, trying his best to sound casual as he inquired into their real area of interest, "Can I get a bonus if I take some of the payment in trade? I might be in the market for something myself, at least if you've got anyone better than those bloody strays they're selling downstairs."

"Something can be arranged," Ilara agreed, "At least if she's as tasty as she looks." The asari pulled off a glove and her dark blue fingers ran almost tenderly over Ashley's cheek. Reflexively, the marine pulled back from the slave trader as she wondered just how far this little charade was going to have to go before they found the information they needed.

The answer was worse than she'd feared. As she looked into Ilara's eyes, unwilling to give her prospective buyer the satisfaction of turning away, the already-dark orbs turned jet black, and the marine felt a sudden pressure against her mind. This was not the sensual, mutually desired joining of thoughts and feelings that she had enjoyed with Sha'ira. This was a violation, the feeling of something forcing its way under skin, like a slim knife being slid underneath the plates of her armor and through her ribs.

Nor was it a sharing. It was a taking. She could see almost nothing of the asari's thoughts, but tendrils of Ilara's will pushed through her defenses, digging deep into her mind. Her past flashed by her in a blur, not whole memories, but bits of sense and impression. Once she got past the sense of invasion though, the reliving was oddly pleasant, as in the midst of the hell she was in, she recalled…

…_The taste of her mother's Christmas cake, gooey, and chocolate-y and still warm from the oven, sliding down her throat as around her, her sisters clamored for their pieces…_

_ …The sound of her father's voice, gravelly and strong, reading to her from one of the books of poetry he loved, a solid rock that she could count on…._

_ …The pleasant tingling between her legs as she lay on the bed, looking down at the lovely, nude form of Sha'ira, the asari's head leaning back into her chest as she purred happily…_

_ …The crack of her skull against the bulk of the crashed shuttle, pain exploding through her head as she struggled in vain against the vice of Doctor Eva's grip…. _

… Suddenly, horribly, the daydreams of the past faded into agony like she had never felt before. She opened her mouth to scream, but her body refused to comply, and Ashley realized that it wasn't just the pain of the past she was feeling, but the agony of the present, as if somehow, the asari's mind was scorching hers. In a single, dreadful instant she realized what the woman was, but it was too late. There was nothing she could do to stop her, no way as she lost consciousness for her even to warn Zaeed that they were dealing with an Ardat-Yakshi.

* * *

Ashley awoke still screaming and only stopped when the raw agony in her throat made her realize that she must have been doing that for quite some time. Her head felt even worse than her throat, a throbbing mass with needles plunged into every nook and cranny, and it took what little concentration she could muster to even remember where she was, her mind filled instead with both new pain and old hurts that had been made shockingly fresh by the slaver's mental assault.

As her nightmares mercifully faded however, the Spectre rapidly came to the conclusion that reality was hardly better. The easily escaped binders she'd been wearing before had been replaced with a sturdier pair and her neck had a metal collar around it, fastened by a chain to a leaky pipe, the water dripping from it providing the only sound in the squalid room she was imprisoned in. It was a rusting, damp shithole, illuminated only by a glimmer of light from a dim bulb on the ceiling above her.

She blinked several times, and while her mind remained pained, at least she could now string a thought together, and her first one was of Zaeed. What the hell had happened to her back-up? Had he sold her out, or simply decided that discretion was the better part of valor in that circumstance, planning to return at some later time to rescue her?

She had no time to ponder that question however, as with a rusty screech, the door to her make-shift cell opened, revealing the asari who had attacked her earlier.

"Ah, lovely," Ilara smiled, creepily cheerful in spite of what had just passed between them. "You're awake. I was worried I might have drunk too deeply earlier. It's so easy to get carried away, especially with a delicious little morsel like you."

"Sorry to be so tempting," she rasped sardonically, the words still hard to get out of her raw throat.

"Don't be," the asari told her. "It's good practice for me. Self-control is a virtue after all."

"I thought," she responded, remembering what Shepard had told her after the mission to Lesuss, "That's why you're supposed to be in a monastery, not out here with all these temptations like me."

"Oh, I was," Ilara agreed, sounding oddly wistful. "I spent a lovely couple of centuries in one of them, praying and meditating in the vain hope of changing who I was. Deadly dull, I think you'd agree, and when I'd finally had enough and escaped, my loving keepers sent a Justicar to kill me. Thankfully, the Reapers were sweet enough to kill her first, leaving me free to experience life more fully."

As she said the final words, that sensual tone returned to her voice and once more, Ashley felt the pull of an insane desire to have that tongue do more than just speak to her. She remembered dimly hearing about the fascination these cursed asari were supposed to exert, and even now, she could feel it lurking behind those gorgeous, terrible eyes, trying to make her forget who the woman was and what she'd just done to Ashley. "Hell of a place you picked to experience it," she quipped, trying to use humor to cover how weak she felt in that moment.

"Oh, I agree with you," Ilara told her, "But we won't be here much longer. I just have a little business to finish up and then we'll be heading someplace far nicer."

"So, you're not planning on killing me?", the marine asked skeptically. Frankly, she was surprised that she wasn't dead already given who she was dealing with, but since she wasn't, she needed to figure out what the asari planned to do with her next.

Ilara moved closer to her, running her hand through the Spectre's dark hair affectionately. "Of course you'll die eventually," she purred, somehow able to make the prospect sound almost appealing. "But don't worry, it won't be for some time yet. Before I kill you, Ashley Williams, you're going to beg me for the pleasure."

* * *

**Things don't seem to be going very well for our heroine, do they? Let me know what you think of these latest developments, and congrats to JrBenson, who guessed who/what the mystery slaver might be. (A popular theory was that she might actually be Sha'ira, which clearly was not the case)**


	8. Chapter 8

The Ardat-Yakshi left the small room, and Ashley exhaled, trying to loosen the knot that had formed in her gut. Ilara might be insane, but she also had the marine in a pretty bad spot. Even if she were fully armed, those things were supposed to be powerful biotics, and right now, she had nothing: no weapons, no armor, and no back-up that she could count on. Hell, for all she knew, Zaeed was already dead, and while Shepard and Liara would come looking for her eventually, by then, it might be too late.

She had only one real advantage that she could think of: Ilara's overconfidence. The woman had used Ashley's real name, doubtless pulled from her mind during their brief meld, which meant she knew she was dealing with a Spectre and friend of the feared Commander Shepard. Neither of those things seemed to phase her in the slightest, which made her either supremely confident or totally insane. A combination of the two seemed most likely, and that might just provide the marine with an edge, at least if she could find a way to use it before she either succumbed to Ilara's charms for real or annoyed the asari enough to get herself killed.

Either of those outcomes would leave Sha'ira up shit's creek without a paddle. That is, if she was even still alive. For a sudden, horrible instant, the thought crossed Ashley's mind that the Ardat-Yakshi had already fed off the Consort, but it didn't take long for her to dismiss it. She was only a week or two behind her girlfriend, and this monster clearly liked to play with her food before eating it. Sha'ira was too smart, and too familiar with the tricks of the seduction trade to have succumbed to her so quickly.

That meant that either Ilara never had her or had sold her to someone else, but either way, Ashley was convinced that Sha'ira was still alive and in danger. As helpless as her captivity was making her feel right now, she was at least a soldier. God only knew where her lover was, and without Ashley's training, she would be counting on the Spectre to pull her gorgeous ass out of the fire. Oddly enough, that thought comforted her as she closed her eyes, still needing more rest after what Ilara had done to her head. Duty had always been the focus of Ashley's life, and now, even if it was only her obligation to one other person, she could let it guide her. As she drifted off to sleep, she tried to focus on that, on the woman she loved, and let that give her strength for the dark times she knew were ahead.

* * *

She was woken up several hours later by the return of her captor, accompanied this time by one of the krogan guards. He was without his partner though, and the marine couldn't miss the bandage wrapped around one side of his already-scarred head. The giant warrior growled when he saw her looking at it, and Ilara laughed, a surprisingly girlish sound, as if they were discussing nothing of real gravity.

"He's just sore because your little friend put up quite the fight when I objected to his deception," she explained. "Cost me a perfectly good krogan and everything. Still," she continued cheerily, "It really does make a good advertisement for his services, don't you think? A friend of mine is starting a fighting ring and I think she'll pay quite nicely for the famous Zaeed Massani."

"How can you do this to people?", Ashley objected, indignation dripping from her voice. "Sell them. Fry their brains." In truth, she wasn't that curious. There was such a thing as evil in the world, and some people just fell into that category. Still, every psychopath had her reasons, and giving Ilara a chance to rant about hers should help the Ardat-Yakshi to think Ashley was starting to sympathize with her.

Ilara unhooked the chain around Ashley's neck from the wall and handed it to her krogan, who yanked her to the Spectre to her feet. As she was led down yet another dank corridor, the asari answered her question. "You're looking at things the wrong way, focusing on the outcome of what I do," she began, her tone patronizing, as if she was speaking to a child, ignorant but well-loved. "Allow me to share a revelation I had during those two hundred years spent in captivity."

"And here we go with the self-justification," Ashley thought to herself, and Ilara didn't disappoint. "Life isn't just about the years you live," the Ardat-Yakshi explained. "There are trees that exist for millennia, but if I offered you the chance to switch places with one of them, somehow I don't think you'd take me up on it. No, life is about the things you get to experience in whatever time you have." She grinned wolfishly. "One truly sublime moment is worth far more than fifty years spent staring at a wall and trying not to think about sex."

"Most people think that being an Ardat-Yakshi is a curse. It's not. It's a blessing. The ecstasy that we feel in the meld is beyond anything a normal asari could comprehend, and in their final moments, our partners get to share that pleasure with us. What finer way could there possibly be to end one's days? Is it better for a warrior to die in her bed, drowning in her own filth, a wrinkled shell of herself, or in the prime of her life, experiencing the greatest bliss imaginable."

"Yeah, well, from what I remember, your greatest bliss hurt like a bitch," Ashley grumbled. Aside from the validity of her point, it wouldn't be a good idea to seem to be giving in too easily.

"Oh, darling," Ilara said tantalizingly, "The pain wasn't because I was in your mind. It was because I was pulling out. Trust me when I tell you that when we do finally become fully one, it will be… indescribable."

The asari's tongue rolled over the final word and Ashley could feel an uncomfortable tightening in her belly, a sensation that was partly fear, but partly something else. How could a proposal that she knew to be fatal sound so delicious at the same time? As she walked silently through the corridors of the station, unable to think of anything more to say, her mind wandered back to when she first met Sha'ira. She'd felt a little like the lovely Consort had been casting some sort of spell on her, but while that had been a pleasant magic, this one was far darker. Whatever made the asari so desirable to every species in the galaxy was still present in this woman, but instead of promising a peaceful melding of two minds, it offered merely death. If only that stopped the spell from working.

* * *

Ilara's ship was nicer than Ashley had feared after her previous accommodations, a small but expensive frigate that her experienced eye judged to have once belonged to the turian navy before being refitted by some later owner. "One of the perks of surviving a war," the asari had told her, sliding a suggestive finger under Ashley's chin as she'd spoken, "All kinds of pretty things get left lying around, waiting for someone to claim them."

The room she'd been imprisoned in wasn't bad either, a well-appointed lounge with a couple of comfortable couches, a few overstuffed chairs, and a small bathroom off to one side. "At least I won't be crapping in a bucket," she'd quipped when she was led in, causing Ilara to shake her head, clearly amused by her attitude.

"Of course not," the asari had chuckled. "You're far too special for such crude treatment. Your previous accommodations were an unfortunate necessity that we're passed now."

Nor was she chained up as she had been before. Though the binders on her wrists remained, Ashley was left free to wander around the room and eat the food provided: bread, cheese, and some sweet asari fruit she wasn't familiar with, and she took that as another sign of her captor's overconfidence. Even knowing her prisoner was a Spectre, she had taken surprisingly minimal measures to secure her, and Ashley wasn't sure whether she should be thankful for that or frightened by it.

It wasn't long before she got her answer. A few hours after the ship had disembarked from Maglar Station, the doors to the lounge slid open and Ilara re-entered. She'd shed the last of her krogan bodyguards along with her armor, replacing it with a red tank-top that showed off a considerable expanse of her smooth blue shoulders and chest.

Gliding across the room, the Ardat-Yakshi lay down on the sofa next to Ashley's chair, draping herself provocatively along it's length.

"So, Ash," she began conversationally, nibbling on one of the fruits that the marine hadn't eaten earlier, "I saw that you served with Commander Shepard? What's she like? Did she really come back from the dead."

Ashley rolled her eyes. Everyone always wanted to know about the commander it seemed, even obsessive psychopaths. "That's what they tell me," she said non-committally, trying to keep her gaze off of the way that Ilara's top had lifted up just enough to show off her toned midriff.

"Incredible," the Ardat-Yakshi replied, a wistful look in her eyes. "To have seen the other side of this life. I wonder what it would be like to join with her."

"You'll never know," Ashley snapped, instinctively protective of her skipper. "She'd tear you apart if you tried anything with her."

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that." Ilara's small purple tongue peaked out from between her lips to lick them clean of fruit juice. "I heard she has a certainly fondness for my kind."

Ashley snorted derisively and Ilara, sensing her stubbornness on this topic, moved on. "Of course, she's not the only one who finds the asari appealing. I saw you were looking for one of us when I found you, but not her identity." She swung around to a sitting position, looking directly into the Spectre's brown eyes. "Tell me Ashley Williams: what asari could entice you all the way out here in a bleeding galaxy? Who was worth such a risk?"

The Spectre hesitated before she answered. On the one hand, giving Ilara any more information about herself was dangerous; this monster was already too good at getting under her skin as it was. On the other, she was a chatty monster. If Ilara knew what had happened to the Consort, Ashley thought she might let something slip, and her worry for her lover outweighed her other concerns. "It was Sha'ira," she admitted. "The Blood Pack brought her to the station to sell."

"Ah yes, Sha'ira." Her eyes lit up hungrily at the mention of her name. "The famous Consort. I thought about buying her for myself, but the bidding went too high."

"Who did buy her?", Ashley asked, too anxious to hide just how much her lover's fate meant to her.

"A wealthy collector," Ilara said enigmatically. "But you needn't worry about her anymore." She leaned closer, her dark eyes seeming to being drawing Ashley into them. "She's off to her new home now, and you and I have something even more interesting to enrich our time in this galaxy." Her lips brushed lightly over Ashley's own, and even as their softness started to draw the marine in, she reacted in the only way she could think to. She slammed her forehead into the Ardat-Yakshi's head, knocking her away.

Ilara staggered for a moment and Ashley decided to go for it. She might not be able to take the asari, but she at least needed to try. It would be expected of her, and what the hell, she might get lucky.

Launching herself out of her chair, she slammed her shackles into her captor's chest. The asari fell backward, tumbling over the couch, and Ashley leapt after her, trying to drive her knee into Ilara's chest. She wasn't fast enough. Even as she cleared the sofa, the other woman's arm was rising, a biotic field manifesting around her. The marine bounced off of the shield, hitting the floor and rolling up into a crouch just in time to see Ilara aiming a warp at her torso. She dodged, moving behind the sofa, and as the blast impacted harmlessly on the floor, she summoned every ounce of strength she could and with her shackled hands, she shoved the furniture into Ilara's barrier.

It wasn't enough. Indeed, the Ardat-Yakshi was barely moved by the impact, only taking a single step backwards before lifting up her hands once more. The massive wave of biotic energy that flew forth from them blew the sofa apart, hurling Ashley from her feet and sending her crashing into the floor. Her head swam from the force of the impact and before she could get back up, Ilara was on top of her. The asari slammed Ashley back down, the force of her biotics adding to her physical strength, holding the marine's limbs firmly in place even as her sleek body brushed up against her chest.

The Ardat-Yakshi drew her face close to Ashley's, her breath hot on her face even as the Spectre struggled against her bonds. "I was right about you," she purred dangerously. "You do have spirit. But there are limits to my patience." She gave a push with her biotics, pressing Ashley's body further against the deck, the strain burning the human's muscles. "Now, are you going to be a good girl or do I have to hurt you some more?"

Ashley stopped struggling against the biotic field, letting her body go slack instead. "I'll behave," she said, trying her best to sound meek, a task made easier by the biotically charged hand the asari had placed at her throat. The pressure against her eased and as her captor ran her hands approvingly through her dark hair, the Spectre just had to hope that two things were true: that Ilara believed she was beaten, and that she wasn't starting to believe it herself, because just then, she had no idea how she was going to take her.


	9. Chapter 9

"Now you be a good pet and eat something while I'm gone," Ilara told her, her voice patronizingly sweet even as her eyes ran hungrily over the Spectre's body. "I have to clear out a few rats who moved into our home while I was away, but I'll be back for you soon enough. Your new life starts today."

It was a life that Ashley knew was likely to be pretty damn short, but that didn't stop her gaze from drifting to Ilara's remarkably firm ass as the other woman left the room. It had been two days since her failed attempt to challenge the Ardat-Yakshi, and they had finally landed on Helfstra, a mid-sized colony in the Terminus started by some outlaw salarians but now home to a variety of species, including apparently her captor. The Reapers hadn't gotten around to attacking it before the end of the war, so a lot of refugees had ended up there; some of them were probably the "rats" that the asari was troubled by.

Ashley, however, had a different problem. Gnawing in her gut was the feeling that if she allowed herself to be brought into the asari's compound, she'd probably never leave. Ilara might be insane, but their brief battle had also proven she was too strong to beat in Ashley's current state, and once inside her lair, escape would be much harder.

No, if the marine was going to make a move, now was the time. Her options, however, were severely limited. Her restraints were no stronger than before, indeed, Ilara had even removed the cuffs around her wrists after her submission two days earlier, but that hardly mattered. The sealed door was an impenetrable barrier to someone without an omni-tool to hack it or the weapons to blast their way through. That meant Ashley had to get someone else to open the door for her, but no one ever came to see her except Ilara and she could neither talk her way past the asari nor best her in combat. She had to get one of the other crew members to come into the room, and she could only think of one way to make that happen.

Her plan rested on the assumption that she was being watched. Ilara always seemed to know what she'd been up to in between their little talks, so it was safe to say that there were cameras inside the room; Ashley just had to hope they were being monitored while the asari was away. It was a risk, but one she had to take.

After waiting a little while to make sure Ilara had left the ship, Ashley overturned the end table next to the couch she slept on and with a strong jerk, snapped one of the legs off. It was an ugly thing she leveled at her stomach, a jagged piece of wood with splintered points everywhere, and she tried her best not to focus on what was going to come next. This was going to hurt like a bitch, but steeling herself with a whisper of, "For Sha'ira," she plunged the make-shift weapon into herself.

She hadn't been wrong about the pain. The broken end of the table leg pierced her skin, and she grunted as the blood started to flow out of her torso, the wood slipping from her grasp as she crashed onto the floor. With every second that passed, she could feel herself getting weaker and with what conscious thought she could still muster, the marine silently prayed that someone was coming because if not, her only consolation was that she probably wouldn't be around long enough to realize her mistake.

* * *

Fortunately, it didn't come to that. No more than a minute or two after she'd stabbed herself, the doors slid open, and in stormed the krogan bodyguard who'd dragged her onto the ship. The massive alien kicked the wooden stick across the room before kneeling down next to Ashley. She'd never seriously considered using it as a weapon anyway. While the marine had killed her fair share of krogan, taking one on while bleeding and largely unarmed didn't exactly strike her as a good idea. Frankly, neither did what she had planned, but what the hell choice did she have but to try?

The krogan rolled her over onto her back before whipping out a medi-gel dispenser and applying the soothing substance to her wound. Cool relief started to blot out the pain, and the krogan exhaled, a sound equal parts relief at not being blamed for her death and annoyance at the inconvenience she'd put him through. "Stupid bitch," he growled, "You really can't take it any more, you go for the throat. That'll do the trick."

"Dying wasn't my plan," she gasped, breath starting to return to Ashley as the medicine did its work. "Needed to talk to you."

"What could I want from you?", he spat. "You're just glorified lunch meat."

"So are you."

"The fuck are you talking about?", the mercenary laughed. "Ilara doesn't eat the help. Just precious little pets like you."

"She's not the one who's going to kill you," Ashley replied, doing her best to keep her voice level through the still-sharp pain. This, right now, was her one shot. If she couldn't convince this krogan of what she was saying, she was dead, and with that thought foremost in her thoughts, she fixed her brown eyes squarely on his reptilian ones. "Do you know who I am?"

"Like I said, the boss' lunch."

"Maybe, but I'm also Ashley Williams."

He gave her a dismissive look. "That supposed to mean something to me?"

"It means I'm a Spectre and more importantly, a close personal friend of Commander Shepard."

"Bullshit!", he spat, but she could see a flicker of doubt in his yellow eyes at the mention of the skipper's name and she pressed her advantage. She hated trying to get by on Shepard's reputation, but right now it was all she had.

"You really think so? Look me up."

The krogan pulled up his omni-tool and as an image of Ashley's Spectre induction ceremony appeared in front of him, she could see the surprise on his face. "You're really friends with Shepard?"

"Yep. The woman who beat the Reapers. The woman who, you may have heard, is still alive. She knows where I went, and if I turn up missing, she's going to come looking for me."

He hesitated. "How's she going to find you here?"

"The Shadow Broker. Another close friend of hers." Ashley suppressed a little smile at the thought of just how close. "They're going to track down this ship, and believe me, Shepard's going to be pretty pissed off if she finds out I've been eaten by your boss."

"Well, maybe we'll just kill her when she gets here." There was a note of bravado in his voice, but Ashley could tell it was almost entirely fake.

"You're going to kill Shepard?" She gave the krogan the best shrug she could manage in her weakened state. "Saren Arterius tried. The Geth tried. The Reapers tried. Go look for them now. She's going to turn you and your boss into chopped liver."

By now she could see full-blown terror in his eyes. "Ilara knows about this?", he sputtered. She'd never seen a krogan quite so unnerved, let alone by the thought of one human woman, and she felt a little flutter of pride on behalf of her species.

"Yep, she knows exactly who I am. But as you might have noticed, she's insane, so she doesn't much care. You, on the other hand, I'm guessing aren't being paid enough credits to commit suicide. Help me escape and we can both get the fuck away from Ilara and live to a ripe old age."

"She'll kill me."

"So will Shepard. Which of them do you think you've got a better chance of escaping from? The most feared Spectre in the galaxy, or some crazy asari pirate?"

The krogan paused for a moment, considering his options as she held her breath. "Fine, but I get this ship when we're done."

It took every ounce of willpower Ashley had not to show just how much relief she was feeling. "Deal. I just need you to take me somewhere, and then she's all yours. Who else do we need to worry about on-board?"

"Most of the muscle is with Ilara killing squatters. All that's left is one jumpy salarian pilot, a couple of turian deserters, and a quarian servant. Nothing that should be a problem for a mighty Spectre," he added sarcastically.

"I'm not exactly at my best, you might have noticed. But I'll make do. What about prisoners? Who's here?"

"Just that asshole Zaeed. Ilara sold off the rest before we left, but she's still waiting for payment on that one. The turians are guarding him."

Ashley pulled herself to her feet. She still felt weak from the self-inflicted stab wound, but the medi-gel had done its work well enough, and now she had to do hers. She was glad for the chance. After two days of lying around that damn room stewing, the urge to get back into action was far stronger than the pain. She'd deal.

* * *

It was the turians they encountered first. The two of them were in the other longue, sitting around a small table taking shots of some dark purple liquid while over in one corner, Zaeed sat chained to the wall. He hadn't been extended the same courtesy as Ashley, a collar fitted around his neck, a gag in his mouth, and fetters on his wrists and ankles. When the door opened, it was the krogan that the two turians saw first. "Hey, Gorax," one of them asked, "Is that stupid bitch okay? Because I don't want to be the one to tell Ilara…"

He stopped in mid-sentence as he saw the woman in question standing behind the krogan. "What the fuck is she doing out of her room?"

By way of an answer, Gorax raised his shotgun, firing a round into the chest of the turian. The shot blew through his armor in a shower of dark blood, and as he fell, his partner went for the pistol sitting in front of him on the table. He wasn't fast enough. Ashley sprang forward and even as his hand wrapped around the gun, she overturned the table and sent it crashing on top of him. The turian tried to toss it off, but by then it was too late. The krogan had reloaded, and a second blast of his shotgun blew off most of the mercenary's face.

"That was direct," Ashley deadpanned as she picked up the pistol from the dead turians. "I thought you might try to persuade them to side with us."

Gorax snorted. "It'd take too long. Who knows when Ilara's getting back. Besides, have you ever tried to reason with a turian? Useless waste of time."

From over in the corner, Zaeed looked up. If the mercenary was surprised by this turn of events, her didn't show it, instead grumbling through his gag. Ashley took it off and he complained, "About goddamn time you came to rescue me."

"Don't get your quad in a bunch," Gorax growled. "I still haven't decided if I'm going to shoot you for what you did to my head the other day."

"Don't," Ashley advised him as she found the keys to Zaeed's restraints on the other turian corpse. "He's a friend of Shepard's too." She may not have liked the man, but she was still a marine. Nobody was getting left behind.

* * *

The rest of the take-over went smoothly enough. The quarian cleaner was only too happy to run when given the chance and though the salarian made a few sputtering protests about what would happen to them when Ilara found out what they'd done, in short order they'd deposited him on the runway as well, and their newly-stolen ship was lifting off from the surface of Helfstra.

While Gorax busied himself surveying "his" ship and Zaeed looked for their weapons, Ashley was left alone in the cockpit. Since the auto-pilot could handle their assent, she started rifling through the computer files the salarian had been good enough to give her access to before his abrupt departure. Ilara had told her that she'd been outbid for Sha'ira, which meant that hopefully, there was some record onboard of who did have her. A little searching turned up the extranet log of the auction, but unfortunately, there was no identity given to the buyer –the word still made her sick –of her beloved Consort, just bank account information.

Of course, she knew someone who could help her out with that and after typing the number she needed into the comm system, it was only few seconds before Liara T'Soni was starring back at the marine, concern and relief mixed on her freckled face. "Goddess, Ashley," she blurted out when she saw her, "What happened to you? I haven't heard from you or Zaeed in days."

"Uh, yeah, things kind of went sideways," she told her friend. "We ran into this asari, an Ardat-Yakshi actually." She blushed slightly, embarrassed at the memory of how easily she'd been taken. "We were captured, but we're free now, and I need one more favor. Sha'ira got sold, but I only have the bank account information for the person who bought her. I was hoping you could tell me who it belongs to."

"Of course," the Shadow Broker replied. "Send it to me."

As Ashley transmitted the files, Shepard stepped into view on the communications screen. The commander looked considerably better than she had the last time they spoke, wearing slacks and her N-7 hoodie instead of pajamas. "Ash," she smiled, clearly just as relieved as her bondmate, "Thank God. I was about a day away from coming after you myself, Alliance assignments be damned."

Liara shot her a concerned look and she backtracked. "Okay, maybe a day away from sending someone else after you." She rolled her eyes. "Between her and Doctor Chakwas, I swear it's like a conspiracy to make me get well."

She was smiling when she said it, but a minute later, her bondmate stopped typing and Shepard's expression changed. Shooting a puzzled look at a screen Ashley couldn't see the commander asked, "Wait. That's who bought Sha'ira?" Liara nodded and Shepard frowned in disbelief. "That's not possible," she told them. "Donovan Hock is dead."

* * *

**So, there it is. Let me know what you think of the reveal as well as Ash's escape plan, and I hope you're still liking the story.**


	10. Chapter 10

"Donovan Hock?" Ashley wracked her brain for some recollection of who the man Shepard had just mentioned was. "The name sounds familiar, but I don't think I know him."

"You wouldn't," Liara told her. "He was someone Shepard encountered during the time the _Normandy_ was a Cerberus ship."

The commander nodded in agreement. "Hock was this scumbag arms dealer who'd killed Kasumi's old partner and stole his greybox. I went with her to steal it back. The mission was supposed to be low-key, but he saw us coming a mile away. I wound up having to take my usual approach to these things, and the op ended with us blowing up the man's gunship with him still on-board. That generally tends to be fatal."

"So does being spaced," Ashley pointed out, "And you're still here."

"True enough," the commander conceded. "The man did own quite the collection of high-end military exotica. I guess it wouldn't really shock me if he had a trick or two up his sleeve." She shrugged. "Or maybe he really is dead. This could be a relative or someone else using his identity. He was a pretty big player in the galactic black market and the name is probably worth something to somebody."

"Well, whoever they are, they have Sha'ira," Ashley reminded the commander. "Any clue where to look for them?"

The Shadow Broker entered a few more commands into her terminal. "These banking records suggest that the buyer is still operating out of Hock's old home on Bekenstein. I am sending you the coordinates now along with a copy of Shepard's mission report. It has a layout of the estate and some details about security you may find useful."

"Bekenstein?" the commander asked, surprised. "I thought the Reapers destroyed that colony."

"Just the industrial centers," Liara clarified. "It was a very quick strike and some of the more isolated settlements such as Hock's estate survived. I imagine the Reapers planned to come back for them once the galaxy's more organized resistance had been eliminated."

Shepard shook her head. "That place was a fortress. You think you'll be able to get in okay, Ash? If you wait, I can try to find you some more back-up."

"Sha'ira's waited long enough," Ashley told her commander grimly. "I've got Zaeed and this krogan; we'll think of something."

* * *

"She may be a crazy bitch but at least she has decent taste in guns."

They were all gathered around the table in the frigate's war room: Ashley, Gorax, and Zaeed, and the grizzled old mercenary was looking about as pleased with himself as his dour disposition would allow. An impressive collection of rifles, pistols, and grenades sat in-between them, while along the wall lay a couple of spare suits of black armor that had belonged to Ilara. The asari was better endowed and a bit less muscled than Ashley, but there was enough adjustability built into such things that the Spectre suspected they'd do just fine.

Ashley picked up a Viper sniper rifle, examining the custom sighting mods installed in it before setting the gun aside. "You did good," she told Zaeed. "And we're gonna need this firepower. An arms dealer named Donovan Hock, or at least somebody posing as him, is the one who bought Sha'ira and he's holed up on Bekenstein inside a veritable fortress. When we go in, I imagine it's going to get pretty ugly."

"What do you mean 'we'?", Gorax groused. "Our deal was that I let you out and took you where you wanted to go. Breaking into fortresses wasn't part of our deal."

"You pissing you're goddamn armor over some arms dealer?", Zaeed taunted but Ashley stopped him.

"No, he's right. So let me make you a new deal. This guy we're going up against is rich. I mean '12-bedroom house on Ilium' rich, and he likes to collect expensive art and weapons. If you help us take him out, I'm sure you can find something there to make it worth your while."

The krogan growled, a low, guttural sound that reminded Ashley of an engine revving up. "Fine," he agreed. "But I want something else too. If Ilara comes after me for helping you, I need your promise that you'll help me kill her."

"Sure," the marine agreed, and honestly, she was happy enough to make the deal. In spite or perhaps because of the strange way the Ardat-Yakshi had made her feel, she had an undeniable urge to put the woman down hard. Indeed, a part of her thought they should have waited for Ilara to return to the ship back on Helfstra, but her haste to get to Sha'ira had taken priority over everything else.

"Great," Zaeed snorted, "So we're all on-board. How do we do the bloody job?"

"We head in the front door," she replied. "I've looked at the files on the this place, and stealth isn't going to work. Shepard was an experienced N-7 infiltrator with the best thief in the galaxy for a partner and her mission still turned into a firefight. No way we're going to do better than that."

"So we just go in shooting?" The krogan smiled a toothy grin. "Sounds like fun, but I'm not looking to get killed just yet. After all, you're boss just cured the genophage. I've got a lot to live for."

Ashley shook her head. "I said we were going in the front door, not that we're shooting our way through it. I've got a plan."

Gorax laughed. "I hope it's better than the one where you stab yourself in the gut."

"It worked, didn't it?" Despite the bravado with which she delivered her protest though, the Spectre wasn't entirely confident. In her heart, she felt like she couldn't have come this far just to fail now, but her head was reminding her that trusting in sentiments like that was a good way to get dead.

* * *

After the devastation they'd seen from space as their ship approached Bekenstein, it made Ashley angry how untouched Donovan Hock's estate was. So many priceless treasures had been lost in the Reaper War; the Sistine Chapel, the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower and countless more parts of humanity's heritage were gone and it hardly seemed right that the clichéd rolling lawns and gilded gates belonging to a piece of trash like this had been left intact.

As the three warriors approached the entrance to the massive compound though, the marine did her best to keep her face all business, allowing herself only a mumbled, "Once more unto the breech, dear friends," as they drew close to the gate. The longer these bastards didn't realize how much she wanted to shoot them the better.

At the sight of her group, the pair of armored guards near the gates started looking jumpy, both of them raising up their assault rifles as one snarled, "Who the fuck are you?"

"Ashley Williams, Special Tactics and Recon," she replied crisply. As long as she had the job, she might as well get some use from the title.

"A Spectre?", the guard snorted, "I thought the fucking Council was dead."

"They are," she agreed, doing her best to put an undertone of menace into her voice, "Which means we have more autonomy than usual."

The other guard sounded a bit less dismissive and a bit more afraid. "Uh, Mack," he asked tentatively, "Are you really sure we should be mouthing off to a Spectre? I've heard stories…"

"Fine," the guard apparently named Mack grumbled, opening up a connection on his omni-tool. "I'll call it in. Hey, sarge, we go this bi… This woman named Ashley Williams who claims to be a Spectre here with a couple of mercs."

"Well, find out what she wants," came the reply, a sarcastic woman's voice that didn't sound intimidated by the new arrivals.

Mack turned to Ashley and the marine answered his boss' question, "We heard this place has recently been taking delivery of some slaves." The guards looked nervous at that statement, and Ashley reassured them, "Don't worry, I know things work differently out here. I'm not looking to make trouble for you, just to find one person who may be a threat to galactic security."

The voice on the other end of the omni-tool was incredulous. "A slave is a threat to galactic security?"

"You're not cleared to know any more than that," Ashley deadpanned. "Now, if you'll just let me in to have a look around, we can keep things from getting unpleasant."

"What do you mean unpleasant?", asked the more skittish of the two guards, gripping his rifle bit tighter at her words.

"I mean that if you check your instruments, you'll see I've got a frigate in orbit over this house. Now if I have to, I'll have it turn this entire compound into molten slag, but while I don't think much of your boss, I'm sure there are at least a few innocent people here, so I'd rather you just let me in to find my target."

Actually, the unoccupied frigate was on auto-pilot and there was no way Ashley was blowing up a house with Sha'ira in it, but fortunately, the reputation Spectres had for ruthlessness seemed to work for her in this case. A minute passed while the sergeant scanned the skies for confirmation and then from the other end of omni-tool, the woman's voice said, "Let them in. I'll take care of it."

* * *

When they reached the house, a tall woman with a stony face, short black hair, and heavy combat armor was waiting for them flanked by two more guards with assault rifles to replace those left back at the gate. "Hello, Spectre," she said coldly, "I'm Sergeant Berkley. If you come with me, I can show you the new acquisitions. Prove to my satisfaction that one of them is the person you're looking for and you can take them. Try anything funny, and you and your ship will find out just how well-defended this house really is."

Ashley nodded. "What about your boss? They're not interested in seeing what's going on?"

"You're dealing with me," was all the sergeant said before leading their small group through the mansion. The interior was as excessively luxurious as the facade, filled with art and crystal that contrasted sharply with the rough group walking through it.

What Ashley saw when she got to the large foyer at the center of the house wasn't so beautiful though. Another guard stood half-way up one of a pair of curving staircases, his gun aimed at a dozen or so people clustered around a pool at their base. The slaves were a frightened lot, mostly human but with a couple of asari and a quarian thrown in, dressed shabbily for the most part, with several of them wearing restraining collars either to control their behavior or inhibit biotic usage.

What she didn't see though was Sha'ira, and the combination of her rage at this latest affront to decency and her worry overwhelmed her. She'd hoped to get to her lover before she ended the charade that this mission was about galactic security, but her patience was exhausted.

"Where's the Consort?!", she snarled, whirling suddenly on the guards. "She's not hear and I know you have her."

"I don't know who you're…" Sergeant Berkley didn't get a chance to finish the denial. Mid-way through her sentence, Zaeed quick-drew a heavy pistol from his side and put two bullets straight through the center of her unpleasant face.

She fell and even before her body could hit the ground, Ashley was moving. The Spectre drove a booted foot into the nearest guard's shin, sending him stumbling backwards before whirling to fire her own rifle at the man who had his weapon trained on the slaves. Taken by surprise at the sudden outbreak of violence, the guard had only started to swivel his weapon in their direction before the burst caught him full in the chest and his armored body tumbled down the staircase and fell into the pool at its base.

The third guard faired slightly better, managing to squeeze a shot off at Gorax that hit the krogan's shoulder guard. It didn't stop the mercenary though, and with a roar, he swung his shotgun like a club, cracking the man's helmet and hurling him to the ground several feet away. Meanwhile, the guard that Ashley had kicked had started to recover his footing, but not in time. Zaeed hit him with two shots to the chest that knocked him to the ground and followed up with a third to the head that covered the marble floor in his blood and brains.

The krogan moved to finish off the last man, but Ashley stopped him, barking, "Wait!", before Gorax could crush his head with an armored boot. The massive alien pulled back and Ashley aimed her gun at the prone guard's knees. "One more time," she snapped, "The Consort. Where is she?"

She didn't need to wait for an answer. Even as the terrified guard sputtered beneath her, a flash of movement caught Ashley's eye and what she saw made the marine forget all about him. Running down the staircase, an ugly bruise above her eye but with a smile spread across her beautiful face, was Sha'ira.

* * *

**And now they've found each other, but this is hardly the end of their troubles. Stay tuned for more.**


	11. Chapter 11

At her first glimpse of Sha'ira coming down the staircase, Ashley instantly forgot the pandemonium swirling around her. She desperately wanted to run to the Consort and say all the things she'd feared she never could: that she loved Sha'ira, that she was sorry for what she'd said the last time they were together, that she'd give anything for a chance to make it right between them. There was no time for such luxuries though, and Ashley did her best to put aside the fantasy reunion she'd constructed in her mind. Sha'ira was alive and that would have to be enough right now.

It seemed she wasn't the only one who felt that way. Sha'ira fell into her arms, no sign of the coldness Ashley had feared in her voice as tears ran down the normally composed Consort's face. "Goddess, Ashley," the asari gasped, "I thought that was your voice I heard, but I feared it was only a dream."

"No dream, just me," the Spectre said gently. In spite of the chaos, Ashley couldn't deny herself one kiss, and for a single, wonderful moment, the sweetness of Sha'ira lips reduced her world down to the two of them. It was only a moment though, and as they reluctantly pulled apart and Ashley noticed once more the bruise above Sha'ira's eye she asked, "Are you all right? Who did this to you?"

"It was Hock," Sha'ira told her, and as she said the name, Ashley could see the fear it conjured in her lover's dark blue eyes. Horrid, repulsive images flashed through her head, and as if able to see them too, the asari corrected her. "It is not what you may be thinking but he is terribly dangerous. We have to escape now."

Ashley took one look at the frightened group of slaves and shook her head. "We're not gonna be able to move quickly with so many people. We'll have to fight our way out." She gestured to the dead guards. "Get their weapons. Give priority to anyone with combat experience. Zaeed, Gorax, and I will try to do most of the fighting but you'll have to pitch in too."

As the slaves armed themselves, the Spectre looked back to Sha'ira. The asari was wearing one of those damned biotic blocking collars, severely limiting her lover's combat abilities. "I'm sorry," the marine told her, "I don't have time to get that thing off of you now without the key." Ashley offered the asari the extra pistols she'd brought from Ilara's arsenal. "Can you use this?"

Sha'ira took it from her, turning it over in her hand. "I've had occasional call to carry one over the years, but I am no soldier."

"Stay close to me then," Ashley replied, having suspected as much. "I'll cover you when the shooting starts."

No sooner had she said those words when the Spectre heard a gathering commotion coming from the outside of the building and she barked out, "Get behind something everyone."

Taking her own advice, Ashley took cover behind one of the large columns in the hall as from the entrance-way, a couple of squads of guards filed in. Striding at their head was a massive metal figure, as much a mech as a suit of body armor. The helmet it wore was opaqued, but when it spoke, she recognized the voice that emerged from inside it.

"Very bad manners of you to have invaded my home like this." Donovan Hock sounded slightly different than he had in the recordings Liara had sent her, an metallic timbre present in his voice, but it was still definitely him.

"Yeah, well, buying slaves isn't exactly good etiquette either," Ashley snapped back.

"Well, well, if it isn't the famed Ashley Williams, girl Spectre," Hock chuckled, the arms merchant clearly having recognized her.

"That's right, Hock," she replied, her voice taking on a menacing edge. "The last time you tangled with one of those, it didn't work out so well for you, did it? Messing with Shepard cost you a gunship. You don't want to find out what I'll take."

Once more, she had to sublimate her personal desires. After seeing what the man had done to Sha'ira's face, Ashley was itching to put a bullet through Hock's skull, but her first priority had to be getting the other prisoners to safety, to say nothing of the Consort herself. There'd be time to deal with this creep later.

Hock, however, did not seem inclined to give her the choice. "A gunship!?", he roared. "Is that what you think that bitch took! Look at me!" The face plate on the mech brightened and even as hardened a marine as Ashley gasped when she saw what was behind it. Most of the arms dealers' once-handsome features had been melted away, and in their place, an ugly web of cybernetic implants connected what remained of the man to his armor. "This is what Shepard did to me! Do you really think I'm going to let her little friend leave here with my property after that!?"

"I guess not," Ashley muttered to herself. Zaeed seemed to have come to the same conclusion because from a doorway, the old mercenary hurled an incendiary grenade that exploded in the midst of the guard squads, lighting several of the more lightly armored men on fire.

After that, it was pandemonium. The Spectre had promised to try and protect the civilians, but she rapidly realized that there was no easy way to do that under the circumstances. The battle was a disorganized mess, even more than such things often were, as the panicked, the poorly trained, and the confused filled the large room with bursts of ill-aimed gunfire. The best thing she could do to end the danger to the prisoners was to kill Hock, which made the marine glad that he wasn't exactly hard to pick out. The armored shell that contained his burnt body was smashing its way across the atrium, shrugging off the bursts of small-arms fire that were being directed at it and tossing aside anything in the way of his desire to get at Ashley.

Rolling out from behind the pillar, the Spectre opened fire on the mech. Her pilfered assault rifle was a better weapon that the ones the prisoners were using, but it still made little impact on the powerful suit's armor and shields. The arms dealer advanced until he had a better line of fire, some of the armor plates in his right arm sliding back to reveal an assault canon.

Chips of stone exploded off of the column as he opened fire and Ashley dove across the room, letting her shields take the few shots she couldn't avoid. Making it to a second pillar, she taunted Hock as she reloaded, trying to make sure his attention stayed focused on her. She had to trust that Zaeed and the krogan could lead the rest of their makeshift team to victory as long as she kept this son of a bitch busy.

"Did Shepard blow off a few chunks of your brain along with your face?", the marine snapped, ducking out to fire a few more shots into Hock's shields. "Anybody with even half of one would've quit while they were behind."

"Quit? I'm only getting warmed up!," the arms dealer snarled as another port on the upper part of his suit opened up. "After I send Shepard your broken body, she'll come here and so I can kill her too."

Ashley's eyes widened as from the hole, a missile emerged. She hurled herself backwards behind the pool and the shot landed in the water, but the blast radius rippled outwards, slamming into the Spectre's shields and sending her skidding backwards across the hard marble floor.

Her ears ringing, Ashley ducked to the side just ahead of a fresh burst of canon fire and she rolled one of her grenades towards Hock. Fortunately, while the mech seemed to have a pretty good sprint speed, its lateral movement was less impressive, and the arms dealer was unable to avoid being caught at the center of the blast radius.

The explosion finally did some real damage to his suit, buckling the shields and scarring the metal along the undercarriage, but it didn't slow Ashley's target down for long. Hock pressed forward and even as the marine was getting back to her feet, he showed her yet another of his tricks. His left arm raised and a jet of flame leapt forth from it, the heat singing the Spectre even through what was left of her own shields.

She raised her arms to cover her face, but even as she backpedaled away from the flamethrower, Ashley heard a voice cry, "Get away from her!" A series of shots rang out, striking Hock's armor, and the man turned. Ashley did as well, and from the corner of the room, she saw Sha'ira facing down the mech, the pistol the Spectre had given her in her hand.

"Stay out of this!", Hock snarled, aiming his canon at the asari but before, he could fire, Ashley pounced. Leaping forward, the Spectre activated her omni-blade and slammed it into Hock's weakened shields. The resistance was terrific, but with a grunt, she managed to pushed it through, the glowing blade penetrating the metal shell of the mech.

Hock whirled back towards her, his attack quicker than she'd expected, and one of his powerful arms caught hold of Ashley's shoulder and lifted her off of her feet. With his other, he smashed into the Spectre's chest, knocking the rifle from her grasp and rattling her bones even through her armor.

Shaking off the pain, she reached into her belt and when her hand emerged holding a small metal sphere, she could see the surprise on what remained of Hock's face. "You know that won't kill me," he laughed, the inhumanity of his synthesized voice even more evident up close. "But I'll enjoy making that whore clean up the pieces you'll be left in."

"Not exactly the plan," she muttered, hitting the detonator of the device she had found in Ilara's rather extensive armory. Rather than a conventional explosion, the grenade unleashed an electrical pulse designed to disrupt synthetics and shields but leave organics relatively unharmed.

Relatively still made Ashley spasm as the blast wave went through her, but that was nothing compared to the reaction the mech had. It's arms went stiff and Ashley dropped out of its grasp, falling to the ground as its systems sparked and sputtered. Recovering faster than Hock did, the Spectre grabbed her gun and pressing it flush against the surface of his faceplate, she opened fire. The rifle's relatively simple mechanics hadn't been affected by the grenade, and nothing stopped her from emptying the full clip into her adversary.

Cracks began to appear in the hardened material and as the mech twitched, full control slow to return, she reloaded as quickly as she could manage. The second clip did the trick. Pieces of the faceplate flew off under the intense assault and the final bullets tore into Hock's already-ruined face, shredding what was left in a spray of blood, bone, and metal.

The suit crashed to the ground, nothing but an empty shell without its pilot, and Ashley turned back to the rest of the battle. Several of the freed slaves had already fallen as had a number of the guards, while the remainder of the two sides had pulled back somewhat, snipping at each other from behind a variety of columns and walls.

Taking advantage of the relatively lull in the fighting, Ashley put on her best battlefield commander voice and yelled out, "Hock's dead!" That got everyone's attention and she added, "Why don't the rest of you get the fuck out of here?!"

There was a moment's hesitation, and then one of the guards asked, "We can leave?"

"Yeah," Ashley replied more calmly, motioning for her people to pull back as a gesture of good faith, "That's the deal. You leave now, we let you walk away."

Another moment passed, and then a different guard said, "Screw it. I'm not paid enough to get killed, especially fighting for a dead guy. Just don't shoot me in the back."

He broke cover and headed to the exit, and when indeed nobody shot him, the rest of the guards didn't take long to follow his example. Watching the last of their enemies leaving, the Spectre exhaled. What was left of her people looked equally relieved but her attention was focused on one beautiful asari, a smile beginning to spread across her face as Sha'ira rushed towards her. Their eyes met, and almost as if they were joined, Ashley could tell that they were sharing the same thought: finally, incredibly, this was over.

* * *

**Well, it's not actually over just yet, but I do think these two may have earned at least a small break in the action to catch up. Let me know what you thought of angry mecha-Hock, and in case your curious, the grenade Ashley used is the arc grenade from the multi-player. I love those things.**


End file.
